Apto Commercial Real Estate Blog

One word describes the state of today’s commercial real estate industry better than any other — change.

That’s the underlying message of the Urban Land Institute’s latest Emerging Trends in Real Estate report. A joint project of ULI and PwC, the report considers the feedback of more than 750 real estate professionals and offers a high-level overview of the most important trends shaping the industry.

Tenant demands are shifting, the economic outlook is uncertain, and technology is impacting everything from industrial logistics to end user experiences. At the same time, demographics are evolving to move the emphasis from downtown markets towards 18-hour cities and amenities are defining the new generation of commercial space.

From locating stability in transformational markets to understanding the role of technology, here are four of the most significant takeaways from the ULI report.

If PR is a prime strategy to raise your profile in the market — think speaking engagements, community relations and attention from third-party media — social media can be a powerful complement to build relationships and enable others to spread the word on your behalf.

Social media is “shared” media. You and everyone else participating jointly share the platform. The downside is negative feedback exposed widely, which can set back your marketing efforts. The upside is the opposite: a multiplier effect for positive interaction, with the information and conversations shared with many more people than through one-off interaction.

The big question to ask first is whether this tactic suits you. Most brokers are sociable, to be sure. But for some people being social on demand is a stretch. Likewise, receiving negative feedback from total strangers isn’t fun, and that can happen on social media. If that makes you uncomfortable, social media marketing may not be a good fit.

All that said, if you’re prepared for the interaction and accept the risk, here are 8 tips to make the most of social media.

The time for New Year’s resolutions is behind us, but as the year ramps up in earnest, maybe you could still use a little inspiration or wisdom from brokers who’ve been there.

Here are a few of our favorite quotes from commercial real estate brokers we’ve talked to over the years. From tips for brokers still breaking into the business to perspectives on technology and secrets to success, we hope you find something valuable to take away.

Originally launched in 1985, Excel's strong graphics and fast processing speeds helped it beat out Lotus 1-2-3 to become the dominant spreadsheet software by the mid-1990s. For the next decade it helped businesses around the world analyze and present their data more effectively than ever before.

But times have changed.

Given the options available today, Excel simply isn’t the best tool for commercial real estate professionals who need a platform to analyze data, prospect, and help them close deals. Modern customer relationship management (CRM) software, especially those focused specifically on CRE, create new possibilities and give brokers new ways to act on their data.

If you’re thinking about investing in new technology, now is the time. And if you’re still using an outdated spreadsheet, while shortcuts and tricks can help, ultimately you risk falling behind.

It’s no secret market leaders consistently attract bigger and better deals than their lesser known competitors.

Everybody wants to work with an expert, and unsurprisingly, becoming your market’s go-to expert is easier said than done. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn't try; on the contrary, working towards that type of influence and recognition is one of strongest ways to advance your career.

So whether you’re a junior broker just starting to build a name for yourself or an industry veteran with years of experience, there’s always room to boost your presence and grow your market influence. From building your personal brand to finding creative ways to bring people together, follow these steps to build influence and win more deals.

When you think about prospecting, is cold calling the first thing that comes to mind?

It is for many brokers, and it’s easy to see why — if you want to find new prospects, you first need to call them, right?

It’s hard to argue with that, and while cold calling does play a role in every prospecting strategy, it shouldn't be your entire strategy. Instead, the best prospecting strategies are rethinking the use of cold calling, transforming it from an end in itself to just one part of a larger approach to securing new business.

From building your market presence to using technology to segment and systematize your efforts, use these three prospecting strategies to move beyond cold calling and make more meaningful relationships in your market.

Whether you’re a junior broker or an industry veteran, few people enjoy having their professional accomplishments put under the spotlight. And believe it or not, most managers dread the annual performance reviews just as much as employees.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

When done correctly, performance reviews are one of the best ways to coach brokers and bring teams together. But that only happens when managers embrace performance reviews as an opportunity to push the entire team forward.

So from laying the groundwork for successful reviews to rethinking the process as a two-way avenue of communication, here’s how managers can use performance reviews to strengthen teams and help brokers succeed.

Because of that, commercial real estate brokerage typically attracts outgoing people who have some natural sales ability. Competition can be fierce, and you can’t rely on charisma alone to close deals (though it doesn’t hurt!). There are many way you can hone those sales skills to stand out from the crowd, and one of the best ways is to attend sales conferences and learn from top sales leaders across various verticals. You’ll get out of the brokerage bubble and come away with tips that can be applied to brokerage and your prospecting process.

We’ve compiled a list of top sales conferences brokers should check out for 2019.

Commercial real estate brokerage is an inherently risky industry, and it can be difficult to get transparency into your business when you're working through complex deals that can take years to close. Sometimes it probably seems like deals can fall through at the drop of a hat.

It might seem difficult to predict when a deal will come through, but the truth is that you can and should track your pipeline. It is possible to better manage the risk involved and get some level of visibility into your cash flow. After all, if you ran a retail store or restaurant franchise and didn’t have any reporting on the business, how long do you think you'd last?

This year promises to be a year of opportunity, and to ensure you win every deal that comes your way, you’re using…the same old spreadsheets.

We feel your pain.

Despite soaring industry technology adoption and the growing understanding that technology, and especially a strong CRM, are essential ingredients to success in today's market, too many brokers are still relying on outdated spreadsheets. We wish every broker could compete on a level playing field, but until that happens we’re here to help brokers of all technology levels.

That’s why we put together a list of 20 shortcuts for brokers still using Microsoft Excel. While these shortcuts won’t transform the technology, they will help you level the playing field. So from navigating efficiently to effectively formatting your cells, use these shortcuts to squeeze the most out of Excel.

After the last commission checks were cut and other compensation added up, a healthy majority of commercial real estate brokers say they made more money in 2018 than in 2017, according to the latest Apto National Broker Buzz Poll, which was conducted in late December by commercial real estate software company Apto.

2018 turned out to be a very good year, say most brokers who responded to the Apto poll. Commercial real estate brokers expect more of the same in 2019. Here are the specific survey results:

Is this the year you finally revamp your brokerage website? Frankly, we’ve seen a lot of brokerage websites over the years, and many haven’t been updated in a decade or more! Those could probably use a little love.

Fortunately, these days, there are plenty of ready-made, easy-to-use templates to create a professional website. Some are even free! A website overhaul doesn’t have to be expensive or even that cumbersome. While you should be thoughtful about your approach and take time to do it right, you can switch over to some new site templates without much hassle.

Here's what you need to know to get started—and a few website templates to inspire you.

Shifting tenant expectations, a growing reliance on technology, reimagined office spaces and the retail showdown of the century—those are just a few of the trends that shaped the world of commercial real estate last year.

And while many of those trends will continue throughout this year, experts are painting a complicated picture for 2019. Much of that complexity comes from the current mix of technological evolution, regulatory changes, and the fact that we’re in the middle of one of the longest economic expansions in U.S. history.

From the opportunity zone craze to accelerating industry tech adoption, expect these six trends to shape the course of CRE this year.

Do you have prospecting goals? Maybe you set aside an hour each morning to call however many people you can, or perhaps you set a goal of 500 calls a week.

The next question is tougher: Do you ever meet those goals? Let's face it—you're busy, and prospecting isn’t fun. Not only is it not fun, our brains aren’t really wired to feel motivation for a task where the payoff is so far in the future! Any given call might turn into a deal, but even if all goes perfectly, it could be months until you see a paycheck. More often it's years.

Now here's some good news: there's a different, easier way to approach prospecting. Most brokers probably default to increasing call volume when they want to fill their pipeline. But if you break the numbers down a little differently, you can create a strategy that’s a lot less overwhelming and a lot more effective.

Who doesn’t love the idea of helping struggling communities while generating impressive returns?

That’s the idea behind the Opportunity Zone program, which came to life as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The program uses tax breaks to incentivize investors to invest in low-income communities, and it could draw trillions of new dollars into the CRE sector.

Brokers who understand the program will be ideally positioned to ride that wave of capital, especially considering how many questions there are about the finer points of Opportunity Zone regulations. Those questions are currently holding most investors back, and while funds like Virtua Partners and Fundrise are moving forward, most people are waiting for the final rules from Washington before pulling the trigger.

Digital marketing isn't just the territory of millennials or technology companies. The term simply refers to any efforts to promote yourself or your brokerage on the internet, and it should an important part of your business strategy.

Here's a quick-hit strategic checklist to make sure you're doing it right.

This month, we’ve been looking at ways to keep clients happy–no matter how difficult they (or the particular deal) may be. We also reached out to brokers to ask how they deal with challenging clients or situations, and this is what they had to say:

How did your 2018 resolutions shape up? Did you mean to adopt a new CRM this year, revisit your marketing tactics, or rethink your prospecting workflow? Whatever your goals, there’s CRE technology that can help you reach them.

And if you haven’t gotten around to those resolutions yet, it’s not too late! Now is the perfect time to invest in a new CRM and new tools to improve your workflow. Use the momentum and energy of the New Year to set your future self up for success. Not only will you be able to hit ground running in 2019, but you even get tax benefits by making the purchase in 2018. Most businesses can claim a deduction for the entire cost of technology and other equipment during the same year they make their purchases.

Let’s take a look at a few of the ways CRE tech can help you fulfill your resolutions in the New Year.

Ask any broker: Nurturing potential clients takes finesse. Come on too strong or offer too little value, and you’ll be rebuffed. Short but sweet emails are ideal for introducing yourself to prospects and setting the stage for an ongoing relationship.

Unfortunately, you aren’t the only one sending emails to prospects. In order to get a response, your message must first stand out enough to get noticed in your prospect’s overflowing inbox. And once your email is opened—if it gets opened—it better be worth your prospect’s time, or you’ll be filed under spam.

To help you write an email that gets results, we’ve outlined the elements of a successful prospecting template you can use to fill your sales pipeline with future clients.

There are a vast number of companies that provide commercial real estate data, and it can be difficult to sort through them or know which ones are the best. We’ve gathered 52 top notch companies that provide commercial real estate data and categorized them into the following categories: Lease/Sales Transactions, Ownership Info, Mortgage/Financial Data, Property Data, Listings/Availabilities, Short-term/Coworking Space, Demographics, Geolocation, and Broker Databases.

Here is a preview of some of the companies you'll find in our ebook, 52 Commercial Real Estate Data Source Services.

Brokers know that prospecting, nurturing relationships, and networking are crucial for success in commercial real estate. One of the best (and most fun!) ways to network with a lot of people in a short amount of time is by attending industry events and conferences.

Conferences provide an opportunity to meet with people you might not otherwise meet in your local market. Beyond that, they often feature highly regarded industry speakers and continuing education sessions that keep you up to date on the latest trends and boost your industry knowledge. While there are many conferences to choose from, here are the top 10 that we think brokers should check out in 2019.

Whether it’s keeping track of contacts or using the latest sales tools to win more deals, there’s no question a strong CRM platform benefits every broker. It’s the tech foundation of your business and the first item to check off your CRE tech shopping list.

But once you have an effective CRM in place, what then?

The world of CRE tech is expanding every day, and from marketing tools to virtual reality, it’s easy to feel lost in the mix. To help guide your technology investments, we looked through the key contenders to separate the essential from the optional.

From critical technologies that help you make the most of your data to nice but currently optional technologies like virtual reality, here’s what you need to know to make the most of your technology budget.

With voters having just approved the legalization of marijuana in three more states, Apto this week released the results of its latest Apto National Broker Buzz Poll, which was conducted earlier this month.

Incidentally, we named our periodic surveys “Apto Broker Buzz Polls” before cannabis real estate deals were in the news. We don’t mean to suggest that brokers are always buzzed! LOL.On election day in the U.S., which was November 6, voters in Michigan legalized marijuana for recreational use, and voters in Missouri and Utah legalized the use of medical marijuana. Now, 33 states and the District of Columbia have enabled the sale of some form of legal marijuana.

The latest Apto poll surveyed commercial real estate brokers in the states that allowed for the sale of some form of legal marijuana prior to the recent election. Those states included: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington (State) and West Virginia.

Landlords, tenants, and investors depend on brokers to help them navigate the world of commercial real estate. But given all the competition in the market, what can you do to ensure prospects choose you over your competitors?

Start by understanding exactly what clients are looking for.

We all know prospecting is the key to finding new business, but prospecting is more than making phone calls and handing out business cards. While those are important parts, at its core prospecting is about becoming the type of broker clients want to work with.

And while no two clients are exactly alike, there are clear traits landlords, investors and tenants look for in a broker. From strong communication skills to keeping pace with changes in the industry, here are the things prospects want to see when selecting their next broker.

Did you miss our recent webinar? We did a quick runthrough of Apto’s latest and greatest features to show you how Apto is driving deal flow more efficiently and effectively for nearly 10,000 commercial real estate brokers.

In case you missed it, we wanted to go ahead and share the recording so you can watch at your leisure. (And if you’re short on time, we also shared a few shorter videos showcasing our favorite features.)

If you’ve been in the commercial real estate business for a while, chances are good that you’ve got a large network of repeat clients and referrals keeping you busy. So busy, perhaps, that you may not even remember the last time you actively had to prospect for new deals. You’ve put in years of hard work, and all of it is finally paying off.

But even though you may not need to drum up new business the way you used to when you were starting out, you still need to stay connected to your network on a consistent basis. Are you prospecting? Maybe not with the same hunger as in your early years. But are you talking to more people than ever? Definitely.

As your network has grown, you may have realized that you’re spending even more time on the phone than before. There are simply more people to get back to, more referrals to follow up on, and more longtime clients to stay in touch with.

You may have gotten to a point where you feel comfortable and confident in your processes as a broker. If you’ve been in the industry for a good few years, maybe by now you feel organized, experienced, and knowledgeable.

But beware of a comfort that leads to complacency. To stay ahead of your competition, you need to make sure you’re up-to-date with the latest tools and technology that can help you be more efficient.

Start working smarter and try out some of these CRE marketing tools to see if they’ll work well for you.

You spend a lot of time building your network in commercial real estate. You’re busy prospecting for new business, establishing rapport with clients, asking for referrals, going to conferences, and so on.

And if we’re being honest, you’re not going to get along with all those people. There will be plenty of folks along the the way who will be challenging to work with for one reason or another. We’ve known some brokers who are established enough to choose who they work with, but for many brokers, you just have to push through the more difficult personalities.

And when it’s with a client, it can be especially important to make sure they stay happy.

Success in commercial real estate is built on great relationships. Some of the best brokers in the field are out there making phone calls, booking lunch dates, meeting new contacts, connecting with old clients, and networking with just about everyone. But behind every warm handshake, cold call, and hot lead is something that often gets overlooked: great data.

It may not be glamorous, but data is what makes things happen. CRE is full of data sets like property specs, financial stats, ownership history, and the number of cold calls you make each day. If you’re doing data right, you see a world of connections, trends, and insights that are invisible to everyone else. If you’re doing it wrong, all you see is a bunch of numbers.

Your data can be extremely powerful if you use it right. But if you’re making any of these 5 common data mistakes, you may actually be doing more harm than good. Here’s what you should know:

Whether you think of it as a CRM or not, every commercial real estate broker has a way to track and manage their prospect and client relationships. That’s what CRM is after all―customer relationship management. It refers to technology that helps you track, manage, and analyze interactions with contacts, whether they're prospective or current clients. It is generally a catchall term for the technology that enables these processes, but you could consider the more basic systems above as CRM (if you’re feeling generous).

5 warning signs that you might need a new system

If you’re comfortable with your income, you feel like you have plenty of time to get your work done, and have never missed a deadline or let a key detail slip, then you probably don’t need to upgrade whatever system you have in place.

You know that data drives commercial real estate. Contacts, properties, square footage, NOI, comps, listings...the list goes on. Even though relationships are the foundation of your business, data is the at the heart of every new connection, deal, and transaction. If you use it right, you have access to a world of insights and opportunities—and can provide thoughtful guidance to clients at a moments’ notice. If you use it wrong (or not at all) you’re adrift in a sea of numbers.

This month, we asked two top brokers how they make the most of their data. Here’s what we learned:

If you’ve been in the commercial real estate business for a while, you’ve seen the industry shift dramatically over the years—especially with the arrival of the newest generation of young brokers, some of whom definitely do things differently. From their ease with tech to their tendency to turn to LinkedIn and email for outreach, they’re relying heavily on modern tools to make life easier.

But you’ve been in this game for a while, and you know that timeless strategies like in-person meetings and follow-up phone calls never get old.

Meanwhile, if you’re a broker who’s never known a world before computers and cellphones, you may be wondering why some of your older counterparts do business in a way that seems to take more time and energy. After all, you can email 1,000 people by the time they finish one phone call with a prospect! But there’s a reason they’ve been in business this long, and that’s because their approach works.

If you want more opportunities to win new business, you don't have to prospect more aggressively. You just have to prospect smarter.

It starts by ensuring you contact the right people at the right time. To do that, you need to have your information organized the right way. Then you have to have the right information on hand to make a quick connection.

We’re on to the third story series about brokers’ longest and shortest deals ever. So far, we’ve shared lessons learned from a two-year multifamily deal in Chicago and an assisted living deal that wrapped up with a mere four minutes to spare. Today, we’re sharing the story of a redevelopment deal that many developers had tried to win but failed—until one team finally made it happen.

If you’re growing your broker team, finding and retaining the right talent can be tricky. In any trade where commissions are involved, salespeople have to walk a fine line between their obvious financial motivation to make a sale and the client’s best interest. And thanks to deal cycles that can span years, brokers especially have to make large investments in establishing rapport with everyone involved.

At the management level, it’s your job to empower the sales team to cultivate the relationships that drive revenue. An environment that attracts and retains top brokers comes down to an investment in company culture. If your employees are happy, motivated, and working towards a common goal, then you’ve unlocked the key to a productive workforce.

You may not have much of a golf swing, but you know that networking makes a big difference when it comes to building new business. Good news: you can leave the golf attire at home and hit “snooze” on that 4 a.m. alarm, because we’ve got five not-so-typical networking ideas for getting your name out there and establishing yourself as your area’s go-to commercial real estate broker.

Several brokers have shared stories with us of their longest (and shortest) deals ever. You may have read about a multifamily deal in Chicago that stretched for over two years. This week, we’re sharing the story of an assisted living deal with a dramatic ending!

Whether it’s prospecting or navigating market trends, top brokers know you need to be informed if you want to get ahead.

Major news sources like Bloomberg, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal can help keep you up to date on global and national business developments, but they don’t typically cover local news. And for most brokers, understanding local changes in your market is the most important thing of all.

To help brokers stay on top of the deals and trends in their market, we decided to put together a list showcasing some of the best places to find local CRE news in three top markets across the country. If you do business in New York City, San Francisco or Houston, check out these sites to keep tabs on the deals and trends shaping your market. (And many of these organizations have regional outlets in different cities, so search for your own if you’re not in one of these areas.)

For many commercial real estate brokers, it often feels like there is not enough time in the day to get everything done. You're meeting with clients, touring properties, managing the details of any given deal, and so on.

We asked brokers for stories about their shortest and longest deals ever. What did we learn? Well, sometimes you just get incredibly lucky and a dream deal falls into your lap and practically ties itself up with a bow. And other times, well…the stories speak for themselves.

Enjoy the first in this 3-part series and learn how brokers keep momentum and stay organized when deals carry on for years on end.

In terms of commercial real estate data sources, there are a few big names out there that most brokers use. They’re the largest—and the most expensive—but they’re not the only ones in the game. There are a number of smaller, niche companies that provide information on lease/sales transactions, ownership info, mortgage/financial data, property data, listings, and more.

All brokers need data, so it’s no surprise that the 52 Commercial Real Estate Data Sources ebook has been our most popular resource to date. And now we’ve updated it with the latest and greatest data sources for 2018 and beyond!

Here are some of the companies that have been added for the 2018 edition of our ebook.

Commercial real estate brokers generally are not threatened by WeWork and the overall co-working trend, according to the latest Apto National Broker Buzz Poll, which was conducted the week of August 20.

The poll asked specifically: “How much of a threat is WeWork to the CRE brokerage business?” Here’s how brokers responded:

Marketing in commercial real estate has to be more than just sending out a few emails now and then and posting your listings on LoopNet. This strategy won’t set you apart from competitors, because your competitors are doing the same things—the monthly newsletter, the listings on LoopNet, the social media post now and then…the list goes on.

In an industry like CRE, you need to make sure you are where your clients are in order to increase your presence and opportunity to close deals.

To be a great broker, you’ve got to be great at sales: it’s how you build relationships, turn them into deals, and keep your business growing. But sales—as you already know—is about more than just making your way down a call list or blasting out an email. In fact, some of the most powerful sales skills are often very subtle.

I started my career in commercial real estate in 2004. When I attended my first national sales meeting as a broker soon after, “disintermediation” was a popular topic of discussion. Many people seemed to be saying that at some point in the near future technology would obviate the need for brokers altogether.

Fast forward a few years, and I’m out of brokerage and on the tech side of commercial real estate. The first industry panel I sat on as a company founder raised the specter of disintermediation. And last year, it was covered yet again at several other conferences I attended.

I’m not talking about golf. I’m talking about following up and nurturing relationships over time, especially ones with previous clients.

Keeping in touch with these people is a no-brainer, but you’d be shocked at how many brokers lose track of this over time. That’s why you need a system in place to keep you organized and put your information to work for you. You own the relationship itself, but it doesn’t hurt to get an automated reminder to call once a month or once a quarter.

Take a look at this infographic to see how this one simple tactic can set you up for success in your market.

When it comes to building software for commercial real estate brokers, you have to consider what you’re up against.

Commercial real estate is notoriously lagging when it comes to technology adoption. Excel, email, and maybe an old contact management system are still king. And they're king because they work (albeit in a 1998 kind of way). This makes the challenge of building something brokers want to use all the more difficult. If you’ve been successful in making money with these older systems, why change?

Don’t get me wrong—some brokers have changed. There are those who have adopted a more modern CRM as their primary technology platform. The problem, though, is that many CRMs are still limited to basic data organization and management. Those are important benefits, but they’re not actual activities that drive sales.

In other words, you don’t “organize and manage” your way to new deals; you win deals. And you win them through action, not management.

We know of brokers who are protective of their data as well as their relationships, and of some teams that are so competitive they’ll steal leads right out from under each other.

And in a way, we get that instinct to turn inward. It can feel like you’re laying all your cards on the table when you share hard-earned intel with people who may not understand what it took for you to get it in the first place—and who may run off with it the moment your back is turned.

But at the same time that some brokers are turning inward, others are turning that thinking right on its head. They’re discovering that when they open up and work together, they’re able to attract even more success for themselves, their team, and ultimately their business.

One year ago this month, we released a product that was the culmination of hundreds of conversations and emails with brokers of all specialties across the country.

It was the first step toward our new product vision. We knew that we’d come a long way in helping introduce the concept of CRM (beyond paper and Excel, that is) to commercial real estate. But it was time to move past that. We had CRM for brokers down pat: in Apto, your data is organized the way you think. It was time to apply that data the way you work.

Since then, we’ve released a slew of new feature sets dedicated to optimizing the broker workflow. And with the new releases that have come out this year, we’re now able to introduce our complete new product. Whether calling a previous client, finding likely buyers on a map, or working through each task related to a deal, brokers can be much more efficient as they find, win, and execute business.

On the hunt for new technology to help you be a more efficient broker? Maybe you're looking for a CRM to organize your data, or maybe you want tools to optimize your workflows for prospecting, marketing, executing deals, etc. And you’re probably aware at this point that any software you choose should offer the basics: a cloud-based system, mobile access, and ease of use.

Those are the obvious must-haves. But there are probably a few things you haven’t thought of yet. To choose tech that will help you be successful in the long run, ask each vendor you’re evaluating these three questions.

Weed, pot, grass, marijuana or cannabis — no matter what you call it, this plant is shaking up voting booths and real estate markets across the country.

It’s one of the fastest growing niches in the industry, but thanks to legal problems, funding difficulties, and general wide scale uncertainty, it’s no surprise brokers have been a little slow to embrace cannabis real estate.

But for brokers wanting to dance with Mary Jane, the time to be slow is over.

The global cannabis industry is expected to grow over 20% over the next four years. In North America it’s expected to grow even faster. That type of growth is creating opportunities for brokers comfortable with the uncertainty that comes with cannabis real estate.

But before you dive in, it’s important to know the niche’s risks and opportunities. So from understanding cannabis’ legality to recognizing how its unquenchable thirst for real estate could impact your market, here’s everything you need to know about the intersection of cannabis and CRE.

If you can find the next billion-dollar startup early, then you can ride that relationship as they grow. And then maybe retire early.

But like most things, the task of finding tomorrow’s unicorn is a lot easier if you know where to look. And if you don’t live in Silicon Valley or New York City, don’t despair — experts are predicting the next unicorns will come from smaller, burgeoning tech markets across the country.

So from making connections at top universities to attending the right events, follow these steps to put yourself in the best position possible to catch your market’s next unicorn early on so you can keep that relationship for the long term.

Finding and building relationships with tenants can take a lot of time, and with periods where you feel like you haven’t accomplished anything. Brokers from all generations know the importance of making a good impression on the first call and then keeping momentum through every subsequent interaction.

In talking to brokers, we’ve seen the many ways in which they piece together the contact, company, and lease information needed to make a good connection when they get on the phone. It usually involves 5-15 tabs on one computer screen and a good amount of prep time before the call.

If this sounds familiar, then you’re going to like what we say next: You don’t need to work this way anymore.

Commercial real estate brokers spend a lot of time on small but dependable deals—do enough of those consistently well, and you’ve earned yourself a healthy living.

But every once in a while, a lucky broker lands a huge client: one that has an appetite for snapping up commercial properties, perhaps, or needs help moving those they’ve already got. Ask them about those clients, and they may simply say, “I was in the right place at the right time!"

Part of that is just luck, of course. You may be lucky enough to have a big client randomly sit next to you at your local sports bar. Or you can be the one who randomly sits next to them, wherever they happen to be.

For fun, we’re sharing the big-ticket annual events that draw the world’s most influential crowds—the philanthropists, tech investors, art collectors, celebrities, media moguls, entrepreneurs, and billionaires who have the power to make big business deals happen.

The company that’s shaking up office markets just took a major step into retail.

WeWork recently launched a new business concept, dubbed WeMRKT, at the co-working giant’s 205 Hudson location in New York City. WeMRKT is a small shop that sells products created by WeWork members, and while there’s currently only one location, WeWork said it plans to expand the concept nationally.

WeWork’s decision to step into retail comes at a turning point in the market. From Toys R Us to Nine West, retailers across the country are filing for bankruptcy at record levels as consumer shopping habits continue to shift.

But not all retailers are struggling. Discount shops are booming while retailers who effectively employ creative, omnichannel strategies are finding success.

WeWork’s new concept is another step in retail’s evolution. From the fusing of the office and retail sectors to new opportunities for brick-and-mortar, here’s what WeWork’s foray into retail says about the current state of the market.

As we move towards a future of driverless cars, shrinking parking lots, and smart, connected buildings, there’s another quiet trend taking root: biophilic city planning and building design.

Biophilic design is bringing nature back into urban areas, balancing all that concrete and steel with more living plants, water, sunlight, and natural materials. It’s a way planners and architects are making public and private spaces a little bit wilder, greener, and healthier for the people who use them. Today, the trend is getting a high-profile boost from major tech companies who’ve incorporated it into their office designs, from Microsoft’streehouses to Apple’sorchards.

When it comes to commercial real estate, people don’t just buy properties: they buy relationships. Are your sales and relationship-building chops as strong as they could be?

The secret to being a top broker lies in emotional intelligence: the ability to recognize your and others’ emotions, influence the energy in a room, and build meaningful relationships. The best brokers in the business aren’t practicing high-level Jedi mind tricks: they’re simply using psychology to their advantage.

So how can you do what they do? How can you use emotional intelligence insights to win more business, build great relationships, and bounce back from inevitable rejections?

In commercial real estate success often boils down to the strength of your relationships. Whether it’s finding a mentor or securing new clients, all relationships start with a first impression. That impression sets the tone for everything to come.

While that may sound daunting, the good news is we have the power to consistently create excellent first impressions.

So from simple things like smiling to working to create an aura of self-confidence, master these five habits to start making the best impressions possible.

Thanks to those members of the commercial real estate broker community who participated in the poll, which was conducted during the last two weeks of June by Apto, the tech platform for commercial real estate brokers. Specific survey questions and answers follow below.

If you’re finding success as a commercial real estate broker, then chances are you’re winning and executing business based on a fairly repeatable process that demonstrates your unique value. That process is likely a series of things to do in order to create and keep momentum and assign responsibility to yourself or your team.

Apto’s latest feature set is designed to help you do everything related to a deal much more efficiently. It lets brokers track, manage, and execute deals from start to finish with a simple interface and intuitive workflow that drives everything forward.

How, you might ask? Well, we have three feature spotlights to show you our favorite tools and how they’ll help you close more deals faster.

In the latest episode of Common Area with Tanner McGraw, Tanner chats with Jonathan Peranich, Managing Partner at Peranich Huffman et Lease Group based in Houston, TX. Jonathan sources and facilitates net leased healthcare investment sales throughout the country and advises a clientele engaged in the development, acquisition, and disposition of net-leased medical assets for both private and institutional principals.

Jonathan and Tanner discuss the ups and downs of the CRE rollercoaster, building a successful team, quirky deals, and more.

It takes an entrepreneurial mindset and relentless persistence to succeed in the world of commercial real estate. Living on commissions while building your business from scratch is one of the toughest learning curves out there, and not everyone is up for the challenge.

But for those bitten by the CRE bug, it’s critical to understand that your habits and traits will either nourish or derail you on the path to success. And while it’s not fun to recognize our own shortcomings, top brokers know a bit of serious introspection only makes you stronger.

So from giving up easily to being afraid of technology, below are some of the key traits shared by unsuccessful brokers. If you recognize any of these traits in yourself, don’t panic; it doesn’t mean you need to change careers. All it means is now you know where you need to improve, and that’s the first step towards success.

It takes a lot to earn somebody’s trust, and it’s not something you can simply do with the wave of a wand. The hardest thing about it is that it is, well, hard:it means you have to invest the time, keep your word, andcare about the other person and those things that matter most to them.

Ultimately, creating trust requires you to, in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Be, and notseem.” That means that your actions have to come from a place of sincerity.

However, there are certain things you can do to build trust more quickly, and you can integrate them into almost any conversation. These are subtle psychological strategies that can help other people feel more at ease around you and moreprepared to trust you.

You’ll still, of course, have to do the work of earning that trust. But these tips should make that journey a more productive and enjoyable one for both you and the other person!

Who doesn’t wish they had a few more hours in their day? Commercial real estate brokers in particular are always on the move and multitasking between a number of urgent tasks.

What better way to be more productive than to look to the technology we already use a hundred times a day—our cellphones! Here are seven apps brokers can download right now to gain more hours in their day.

In an industry as dependent on relationships and experience as commercial real estate, there’s no question that working with the right mentor is massively beneficial.

From connecting you to leaders in your market to helping you rethink and optimize business strategies, finding a mentor can mean the difference between success and failure. Here are five steps you can use today to start successfully connecting with the giants in your market.

Great brokers thrive on the energy that comes with getting things done, whether it’s meeting a new prospect or shaking on a new deal. But if you’re the type that keeps getting things done, we’re betting you’re also the type who keeps that to-do list topped up.

Don’t get us wrong—we love brokers who go out there and make things happen. But the more we tune in to the science, the more we’re beginning to understand how important it is for doers to spend a little time doing, well, nothing at all.

When you structure your day right, everything seems to flow more easily—from the hours to the deals. But get cluttered up with pointless emails, meetings, and other time sucks, and suddenly the day has gone by and you’ve got nothing to show for it.

Being in this business means figuring out how to structure your day for the most productivity—from how you schedule meetings to how you handle emails. Here's how 5 high-performing brokers do it.

Building relationships is the lifeblood of a broker. You need to know exactly who your prospects are, and more importantly, what to say to get them interested and listening to what you have to say.

To capture someone’s attention, you need to be interesting, relevant, and timely. Whether you’re following up with an old client or making a new connection, you need to offer them information of value to them, and convince them you’re an expert on your market.

The days are getting longer and the air is getting warmer, and we all know that can only mean one thing—summer is finally here. But as people across the country plan their vacations, CRE professionals are entering some of the slowest months of the year.

With the hot weather and slow days ahead, we know it can be tempting to leave the office early. And while it’s certainly important to enjoy the summer and take a much deserved break, top brokers know it’s essential to work just as hard this season as you have all year.

So from continuing to prospect to effectively communicating vacation plans, follow these tips to keep yourself on track for a successful year by having an enjoyable and productive summer.

Coworking made its mark as a solution for startups in need of a flexible, affordable place to house their teams while they proved out their idea. Spaces like WeWork, Industrious and Knotel became popular not only for their flexibility, but for the stellar amenities they offered. CEOs could treat their teams like royalty—think high-end coffee, beer on tap, HR perks and free events—without ever signing a long-term lease.

Initially, the idea was that businesses would stay in their coworking space until they matured to the point of being ready to sign that traditional long-term lease and move into their own space. But the recent trend of major corporations moving entire teams into coworking spaces, or simply allowing their employees the choice of working in coworking spaces around the city instead of one central office, has turned that notion on its head.

Imagine being one of the top brokers in your city. What would that look like? What would it mean for your business, your reputation, and your income? And how could you get to that level?

Marketing and business mastermindSeth Godin offers a useful place to start. He says:

“Focus on creating a reputation and a work product that others believe is worth more. The mistake we make is in not telling stories that create more value, in not doing the hard work of building something unique and worth seeking out."

Seth’s advice is geared to businesses in general, but let’s apply it to commercial real estate specifically. Here’s what you can do:

Or in reality, probably many spreadsheets. Tanner McGraw founded Apto in 2012 after 10 years as a broker, many of those at Marcus & Millichap. The product evolved from his own frustration with the technology—or lack thereof—that he needed to do his job well.

Today, Apto has grown and evolved well beyond our bootstrapped beginnings. And one of our biggest areas of investment has been in our product development team. Tanner still lends his expertise as Chief Strategy Officer of Apto, but not everyone working on the product has a decade of experience working in commercial real estate.

To put the broker workflow at the center of what we build, the product team needs to talk to brokers. In person, on the phone, on the street, via email—the communication is constant and the channels varied. And it seems only fitting that we approach a relationship-driven industry by trying to build our own relationships with customers and non-customers alike.

When we say we were created by and for brokers, we’re not just referring to our founder’s origin story. Here’s how we make sure our CRM and sales tools are built for you.

Commercial real estate investors, landlords, and tenants rely on brokers to take deals across the finish line. But few people are open to working with just anyone; instead, clients are understandably picky about who they’ll trust.

The first step to winning clients is understanding what they’re looking for. Once you know that you can boost your prospecting efforts by making yourself the ideal candidate for their business.

Fortunately, many investors have a similar set of criteria when it comes to choosing who they’re going to work with. From understanding the importance of referrals to fine tuning your communication skills, these are the first four things most people look for when choosing a CRE broker.

In November 2017, the city of Denver made history when voters moved to require new and existing buildings over 25,000 square feet to allot a portion of their roofs to vegetation, or green roofs.

Not everyone in the city was pleased with the new initiative, however. Many building owners feel the rule is too strict and will make building in the city too costly. The Green Roof Task Force Committee, comprised of various stakeholders, is now working to recommend changes to the new ordinance to city council.

On episode 2 of Common Area with Tanner McGraw, Tanner sits down with Peter Von Der Ahe, the team lead for New York Multifamily at Marcus & Millichap. With nearly twenty years of investment brokerage experience, Peter has been included in the top 10 of Marcus & Millichap’s investment professionals nationally and the company’s prestigious Chairman’s Circle of Excellence on three and four occasions, respectively.

Tanner and Peter talk about navigating tough market transitions, the evolution of the broker’s role, how to build a great team, the value of difficult conversations with clients, and much more.

At some point, whatever size the team, most brokerages will need to hire new brokers. Even in a small shop, bringing on an associate or a partner is often needed to take the next step. But what can you do to find the most promising candidates and set them up for success?

Since it isn’t easy to point out successful future brokers in a crowd, Jon said you need to focus on finding people with drive and a strong work ethic. After pinpointing the most motivated candidates, it’s the company’s job to give their team the right technology to help them reach their full potential.

The retail industry is in the midst of massive change. From the rise of e-commerce to record bankruptcy rates, it’s clear that retail needs to evolve with the times.

Nobody knows that better than the experts who presented at the International Council of Shopping Center’s RECon 2018 convention, which ended just last week. The event is the world’s largest gathering of retail real estate professionals, and while the mood was largely optimistic, many people also voiced concerns about where the industry is heading.

During the convention experts discussed all things retail, and from fine tuning the tenant mix to using technology to create an omnichannel experience, here are four key takeaways from this year’s convention.

Have you taken a look at Apto Deals yet? Our latest feature is meant to give you perfect clarity and workflow for every deal.

With a million details and moving pieces to manage, it’s shockingly easy to have something fall through the cracks. Many of the brokers we talk to have just such a story, and frankly, they get emotional about it (and who could blame them?).

The job of a commercial real estate broker seems to become more complex every year. And there are certainly plenty of different technologies that have popped up to help with every task. That’s why it’s important to find an all-in-one platform that can help you close deals and maintain communication with clients.

Here are four reasons why an all-in-one platform is essential for today’s CRE broker.

Last month, we had the pleasure of visiting NAI Partners at their Houston office. It was great to get back to Apto’s roots, given that we started off in the Woodlands, Texas before making the move to Denver.

We brought a team of three Apto employees from Product & Engineering with the intention of learning how NAI Partners is using Apto and what we could improve. Little did we know we’d be walking away with insight into how one of the best-in-breed brokerages has become, and stayed, so successful.

When you’ve been in the CRE industry for a while, you encounter certain myths and pieces of bad advice that just won’t go away. This week, we reached out to brokers to find out the one thing that keeps being passed around as truth—but simply isn’t so. Here’s what they had to say:

Apto Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Tanner McGraw was recently at DisruptCRE Chicago to talk to brokers and other tech leaders about what they’re seeing in the industry.

It’s no secret that technology is reshaping the way CRE professionals work and opening the door to new opportunities. So Tanner moderated a panel on the different technology tools optimizing and advancing transactions throughout the lifecycle of buildings from all different asset classes.

The results of the first Apto National Broker Buzz Poll are in, and the results are loud and clear. Brokers are buzzing about the shutdown of Xceligent, and they are concerned that CoStar — the dominant player in commercial property availability information — will raise prices as a result.

Highlights of the survey are below. Thanks to those members of the commercial real estate brokerage community who participated in the poll.

LinkedIn is an important social media platform for brokers. It’s a place to tout your professional accomplishments, stay in contact with your network, and form new relationships.

But beyond simply checking messages every few days, top brokers work to develop a presence on LinkedIn’s most important CRE groups. LinkedIn has tons of industry specific groups, and CRE is no exception. So whether it’s engaging with power players in your market or finding the perfect place to post listings, every broker should build a presence on these five groups.

Did you know Mark Cuban spends three hours a day reading? Or, that Bill Gates reads roughly 50 books per year?

Sure, they could be spending that time sailing around on yachts, taking meetings, attending events or however else it is billionaires spend their time, but instead, they carve out a chunk of every day for learning new things through books.

Whether you call it outsourcing, vendor management, or strategic partnerships, commercial real estate brokers are increasingly working with third-party companies to maximize value.

It’s not hard to see why.

Outsourcing the right tasks saves money and lets you spend more time on relationships and deals. It can also boost efficiencies by letting you hand off tasks you aren’t an expert in, such as technology and marketing, to specialists who can do the job for you.

So from getting rid of pesky administrative work to integrating the best technologies in the industry, consider outsourcing tasks in these three areas.

For the first episode of his new podcast, Common Area, Apto Founder and Chief Strategist Tanner McGraw interviewed Jon Silberman of NAI Partners. Jon has more than 20 years of experience in tenant representation and corporate services and an uncommon commitment to discipline and consistency, traits to which he contributes much of his success.

Despite his decades of experience, Jon sticks to the basics when it comes to maintaining his pipeline or riding out tough times. As Tanner and Jon discuss, to be successful in CRE, there are no tricks, there is only hard work, consistency, and discipline, all of which can be aided tremendously by an organized CRM system.

Managing commercial real estate can be a complicated puzzle that requires coordination from many parties. From acquiring land to planning redevelopment to finding the right clients, commercial real estate is a big business.

CRE brokers are responsible for advising new owners on the best way to rent out spaces to commercial tenants--a process that can be overwhelming. Choosing the right commercial tenants is very different than choosing residential tenants.

Let’s take a closer look at four important things that all CRE brokers should know about the tenant screening process.

You’re in the commercial real estate business to close deals and make money. Do you have a process to manage it all so nothing falls between the cracks?

Apto Deals helps you track, manage, and execute your deals from start to finish with a simple interface and intuitive workflow that drives every deal forward. In one dashboard, you can see where every deal is at every stage, from prospect to negotiations to close.

It’s an interesting time to be alive. Technology takes up more space in our lives than ever before, and replaces face-to-face interactions and phone calls. And of course, it’s easier to be rude or dismissive when you don’t have to look someone in the eye.

Many of us could benefit from brushing up on our empathy skills. And according to recent research, practicing empathy can not only improve our relationships with family and friends, it can be a major asset at work as well.

Thanks to mounting findings on the specific business benefits of empathy, the Harvard Business Review has argued that, “Empathy should be embedded into the entire organization: There is nothing soft about it. It is a hard skill that should be required from the boardroom to the shop floor.”

And for brokers, whose success depends on how well you are able to read, relate, and ultimately persuade people, cultivating empathy can be particularly powerful.

As a broker, you spend your life striking up conversations with potential clients—whether it’s on the phone with a prospect or in line at the coffee shop. And if you’re one of the good ones, you know exactly how to keep the conversation going from that first hello to that first deal.

There’s a lot at stake from the very first words you use, which is why we asked brokers what they like to do to spark a connection and keep things flowing. Here’s what they had to say:

It may take five years or fifty depending on who you ask, but there’s great potential for autonomous vehicles to radically disrupt and revolutionize the commercial real estate industry.

The relationship between property values and transportation is one of the most durable in human history. The first cities grew up along waterways, railways, and roads. Then Henry Ford’s Model T paved the way for the suburbs. Tomorrow, driverless cars could usher in a similarly monumental shift in how we use real estate.

Yet from Uber’s fatal driverless crash to an uncertain regulatory future, these changes are not set in stone. Autonomous vehicles still have a long way to go, and most experts predict widespread consumer adoption is at least a decade away.

Despite the setbacks, technological advances and growing levels of investment make the driverless future more and more likely. From opening periphery neighborhoods to revolutionizing retail, here are four ways autonomous vehicles could rewrite the laws of commercial real estate.

There are plenty of cringeworthy stories out there about brokers who lost a deal, maybe even because of that one little detail that slipped through the cracks. It's never fun to lose, and it's why brokers need better tools to manage it all. Yes, sometimes things just fall through, but there are definitely ways to get better at tracking, managing, and executing deals.

Apto Deals is our latest feature set designed to help brokers track, manage, and execute deals from start to finish with a simple interface and intuitive workflow that drives everything forward.

Do you know how many deals it will take to hit your goal? What about how many calls or emails it will take to get those deals?

In commercial real estate, we know there are good years and bad years. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't know your business metrics like the back of your hand. Otherwise, how will you track and reach your goals? (In fact, we've written before about the most important key performance indicators that brokers should know but probably don't.)

Fortunately, you can use this calculator to get an idea of what it will take.

Getting a deal done in commercial real estate is a long and often complex process. Fortunately, automation is starting to improve communication and reduce friction for managing various elements of the deal.

Let’s take a look at four ways automation is helping change the commercial real estate game in 2018 and beyond.

When it comes to commercial real estate brokerage, I’ve been on both sides. I was a broker for 10 years and experienced a lot of the same frustrations with process and technology that brokers still feel today. That’s what led me to build my own tech, and eventually launch Apto.

I’ve also met a lot of fascinating people over my years as both broker and entrepreneur, and I would be remiss not to share those stories with the larger CRE community. That’s why I’ve started this podcast series, “Common Area,” so other folks in the industry can learn from these successful brokers.

Whether you’re finding prospects or making the final handshake, the entire CRE deal lifecycle is built on a series of negotiations.But beyond the current deal, top brokers know the way you negotiate sets you up for success or failure in the future.

From doing your homework to building a strong reputation, use these five tips to master the art of the negotiation and win more deals.

Coy Davidson is a Houston-based broker who has been in the commercial real estate business for 27 years—and he still enjoys it! These days he focuses on healthcare, as well as tenant representation for businesses.

He’s well aware that how companies found space 20 years ago is archaic compared to what they do today. Clients expect more because there’s someone out there providing more--and brokers have to keep up. He notes: "As I've seen technology start to make its way into the CRE industry, really the people that are succeeding are the people that are bringing new efficiencies.”

Learn more and see how Coy gets a competitive advantage by watching the video below.

This month, we’ve been following CRE developments across the nation, from a new kind of sports arena in Texas to a sky-high traffic solution in Boston. Here are the stories that made us stop and think this month:

Apto Maps helps commercial real estate brokers prospect and win deals by providing visual, interactive tools to analyze a market. It’s a new feature in the Apto suite of cloud-based CRM tools built on the Salesforce.com platform.

That’s according to a Colliers International report, which said that in 2017 big-box warehouses (measuring at least 200,000 square feet and boasting 28-foot ceilings) sold at an average capitalization rate of 5.8%. That’s below the 6.7% cap rate for all U.S. office space and nearly beats the 5.7% rate for offices in central business districts, Bloomberg reports.

Joining a commercial real estate association is one of the best ways to widen your network. It can also increase your credibility with clients and help give your career a boost by providing access to people, resources, and continuing education opportunities you wouldn’t be able to obtain otherwise.

While there’s lots of associations to choose from, we’ve highlighted some of the top ones brokers should consider joining. Some may be a better fit for you than others, but they’re all highly regarded among commercial real estate professionals.

“Now agile methodologies—which involve new values, principles, practices, and benefits and are a radical alternative to command-and-control-style management—are spreading across a broad range of industries and functions and even into the C-suite.”

For many of us, the end of the workday is about quickly finishing a few final tasks, beating traffic and maybe saying goodbye on our way out the door.

While those aren’t bad things (who wants to be stuck in traffic?), just like with mornings, the most successful brokers tend to follow an end-of-day routine that helps set the stage for success.

And while everybody and every day is different, we can all benefit from thinking about what we do at the end of the day and analyzing whether or not those habits help us reach our goals. From updating your to-do list to reflecting on your day, follow these tips to make every tomorrow a success.

We don’t think there’s a single broker out there with a perfect track record. Along with the wins, of course, everyone has had their share of losses. But top brokers know that there’s no point letting a loss go to waste—you might as well learn from it. Sometimes things fall apart no matter what you do. But other times, you look back and think, “OK, next time I’m playing this differently."

We asked brokers across the nation to tell us about the deals they’ve lost and what they learned from them. Here’s what they had to say:

Closing a deal and cashing a commission check is such a good feeling, right? After months—sometimes years—of hard work, all your efforts finally pay off.

If closing a deal is good news, the even better news is that you can easily keep up the momentum and use your recent success to drum up new business. Just think, you have relevant market intel that you can use with other owners in the market. Maybe they’re in a similar position to the deal you just closed.

The first quarter of 2018 is over. We hope you’re currently working deals, but it’s important to keep up any momentum you have when it comes to prospecting. Before you know it, Q2 will be over, and then summer will be over, and you’ll be scrambling to close those last deals of the year.

Make sure you’re working to keep your pipeline full--you’ll be glad you did whenever the season slows down. Let’s look at a few ways to stack your pipeline to keep it moving all year.

Brands fighting for their audiences’ online attention have a lot of competition.

Adding to this challenge, platforms like Facebook and Twitter have made subtle yet hugely impactful changes to their algorithms that make getting eyeballs on updates much more difficult for businesses.

Still, some brands manage to win the game and stand out against the odds. How do they do it? Creativity, timeliness, and boldness.

Here are some inspiring examples of real estate brands doing what it takes to stand out. We highlight both residential and commercial because you can take inspiration from anywhere!

Whether it’s hitting meetings around town, prospecting or speeding through administrative tasks, most brokers don’t have much downtime. The sheer amount and variety of work that comes with brokerage is exhilarating, but it can also be difficult to manage.

To get the most out of your time and effort, learn how to prioritize like a champion.

From working deliberately to learning how and when to say “no,” use these six tips to prioritize your time to boost productivity and win more deals.

If you’re ready to take on a junior broker, congratulations! Building out a team can take some weight off your shoulders while bringing in more business.

But before that happens, there’s a lot you’ll have to figure out: how to find the right person, which tasks to start them off with, and finally, how to negotiate a fair commission split. Today, we’ll delve into the details of hiring your first junior broker—form bringing them onboard to bringing in your first deal together.

When you’re evaluating a new CRE technology for your business, you probably have a few specific things you’re looking to accomplish. Maybe you want a better workflow for prospecting and following up, or perhaps you just want task prioritization and management.

Whatever it is, Apto can help. Get a personalized look at our tools by selecting what you’re looking for.

As a CRE broker, you’ve got enough to do in your day without having to do it over and over and over again. You know what we mean: from re-typing the same exact thing a zillion times to sending twenty emails to schedule one simple meeting.

Today, we’re simplifying your life with these five must-try tips for automating your day. Here’s how to free up more time for better things, starting right now:

In the late aughts, I was a commercial real estate broker in a desperate search for technology to organize my business. At Marcus & Millichap, I was making hundreds of calls a week and working pretty sizable deals, and it was ridiculous to me that there was no software designed for my industry that could make my job easier. The design and functionality that existed at the time was rudimentary at best, counterproductive at worst, and nothing was in the cloud.

That’s why I created my own CRM, and eventually founded Apto. Even since then, CRE brokerage has changed quite a bit. When I last took stock in 2013, Apto was still just a baby. Barely two years old, we were still learning how to walk, keep our balance, and feed ourselves.

Technology is pushing the commercial real estate industry to evolve faster than ever before. From software that integrates the entire deal lifecycle to smart buildings that automatically reduce indoor CO2 levels, PropTech comes in all shapes and sizes.

Using the right technology gives everyone from brokers to owners major advantages in today’s market, but before you can realize those gains you need to learn what technology is right for you. PropTech conferences are a great opportunity to do that.

There are tons of PropTech conferences and seminars scheduled for 2018, so rather than try and cover them all, we decided to hone in on six we believe will be the largest and most important. From Paris to San Francisco, attend these conferences to stay at the forefront of industry innovation.

If that’s what you were thinking just now, you’re right: we aren’t in one. Which makes this an excellent time to plan for the next one.

And of course, there will be a next one—there always is. After all, the good times can’t last forever, and deep inside we all know that. Just ask the brokers who were doing business back in the glory days of 2007, right before the Great Recession.

In fact, if you know brokers who survived the last recession and have the battle scars to prove it, do this: ask them how they did it, and how they’re preparing for the next rough patch. A few CRE pros are already getting a head start on that question over at Wall Street Oasis—here’s what they’re talking about, plus our take on what else you can do to stay on top in a downturn.

As an individual, you probably have your little tricks and shortcuts that help you manage tasks and stay organized day to day. But there’s probably more you can do to be productive, and if you’re working on a team, then you need to be even more intentional in working toward your goals.

Team projects require way more communication and organization to stay on track and achieve the desired result. We’ve all witnessed a project go awry because of workstyle clashes.

The solve for this challenge can often be found in project management frameworks like KANBAN, Getting Things Done (GTD), and Scrum. Project management frameworks are any combination of tools, methodologies, and steps that move a given project from start to finish. Ideally, they help keep individuals accountable to a common goal through transparency.

Whether it’s rising with the sun to get a jump on the day or hitting the snooze button as many times as possible, we all have different morning routines. Nobody can tell you the perfect way to structure your morning, but if you’re hoping to reinvigorate yourself or your business, start by taking a hard look at how you begin the day.

And if you’re looking for inspiration, many of the industry’s top performers and the world’s most successful people follow a similar set of morning rituals. From getting up early to setting goals, here are five things many of the world’s most successful people do before getting to work.

“…do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.” - Benjamin Franklin

They say time is money, but we think that equation could use an update: time is far more valuable than money. Think about it: if you squander the money you have, you can always earn more of it. But you can never get your wasted time back. And yet some people just give their time away as if it were nothing: they fritter it away or worse, believe they’re using it wisely when really they’re just being “busy.”

Let’s acknowledge that there’s a huge difference between merely filling your time and valuing your time. Today, we’re sharing two powerful strategies to help you make the most of the finite amount of time you have each day.

How many times have you gotten completely shut down by someone on a cold call?

There are certain biases and misconceptions about commercial real estate brokers out there. Some you may find based in reality, while others probably seem unfair. Yet for those who take the high road, work hard, and operate with integrity, getting blamed for others’ misconduct or laziness can be infuriating.

At Apto, we’re lucky enough to speak with commercial real estate professionals at the top of their game every day, and it’s the stories we hear from them that inspire us. Here’s how some of these brokers prove the stereotypes wrong.

Here in the engineering department at Apto, our goal is to build tools brokers love.

To do that, we also need to give our customers easy access to a number of technology integrations. We want each process and task to be simple—we’re not here to build a new email system after all—so Apto has to work seamlessly with many of the tools that brokers already use in their day-to-day routines.

Whether it’s cold calling or reconnecting with past clients, brokers spend a lot of time on the phone. But the key to winning more deals isn’t simply the number of hours you spend dialing — it’s about using that time effectively.

Although tech adoption has increased in recent years, the commercial real estate industry is still pretty old school. But that won’t be the case forever, and from the industry age gap to changing preferences in the workplace and market, Millennials, and Generation Z are already making waves throughout the industry.

Many segments of the CRE world are in need of young talent. The latest National Association of Realtors Commercial Member Profile said the median age of a commercial realtor was 60 years old. That dynamic is pushing companies across the industry to hire younger workers, and when it comes to work/life balance and commercial space needs, America’s younger generations have different expectations than their predecessors.

From a growing demand for remote work to market changes impacting future space needs, Millennials and Generation Z are forcing the industry to evolve.

Before the days of more sophisticated technology, businesses had to manually stay up-to-date with their schedules, client information, and all other important data.

And many still do. Small businesses in particular are less less likely to have more advanced technology due to cost. Instead, they often still rely on spreadsheets or handwritten notes, which only increases the likelihood of making careless mistakes, like forgetting commitments or losing important information.

These days, thanks to new technology, staying organized is easier--and cheaper--than ever. While commercial real estate has traditionally lagged behind new technology, we’re starting to catch up. New customer relationship management (CRM) platforms designed specifically for CRE started to spring up a few years ago, and are continuing to mature and become more popular, easier to use, and less cost-prohibitive.

Nobody likes to fail. Yet despite our attempts to avoid it, from time to time we all do. Whether it’s losing prospects to competitors or being unable to agree to final terms, everyone in this industry has at least a couple failures under their belt.

That’s admittedly easier said than done, but you can simplify the process by asking the right questions. From accurately identifying what went wrong to finding the best way to move forward, ask yourself these four questions after every failed deal to learn from your mistakes and forge ahead.

"Hackathons are so valuable because they are a time when we're able to think past the next day or week and just build without constraints. Taking this time to think differently pays off with new ideas.”

- Pedram Keyani, Director of Engineering at Facebook

If you’re at all familiar with the tech world, you might have heard about hackathons. A hackathon is defined as “an event, typically lasting several days, in which a large number of people meet to engage in collaborative computer programming.” I’ll note that while it started with computer engineers, it can also be more than that.

The goal is to refresh team creativity, take a break from day-to-day tasks and habits, and refocus on the bigger mission of the organization. At Apto, that means building tools brokers love.

We’re still adjusting to the New(ish) Year and all the buzzwords and trends that come with it. Whether it’s different consumer patterns or expectations, commentary on workforce changes, or just new best practices, it’s worth brushing up on the latest trends. Here are three that you should take note of as you work to advance your business in 2018.

The list includes many of the country’s largest cities and is heavily focused on the East Coast, but it still isn't clear where Amazon will build its new $5 billion campus and create 50,000 high-paying jobs.

From top contenders like Washington D.C. to cities that surprisingly failed to make the cut, we decided to take a closer look at how the Amazon HQ2 race is unfolding.

We’ve all heard the rhyme about making new friends and keeping the old, but sometimes we forget just how gold those old relationships can be.

From referrals to continued business, most brokers rely on past clients to prospect and churn out more deals. (That’s why we made it an auto-generated call list in Prospect & Nurture.)

Yet the longer you go without connecting with a past client, the greater the chance that relationship will fade. And since it costs five times as much to attract a new client than to keep an old one, there’s no reason you should let a past client forget you.

From passing on news to picking up the phone, use these seven strategies to make sure that never happens.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a map is worth a thousand spreadsheets.

That’s why we created Apto Maps. This new tool within Prospect & Nurture helps you prospect and win deals by giving you visual, interactive tools to analyze your market. You’ll be able to turn location-driven observations into action with smarter call lists and deeper insights.

Maggie Ham is a senior project manager at Apto. She has helped brokerages of all different sizes find success with our technology. We sat down with her to learn what makes an Apto customer successful, and what practices can ultimately sabotage a technology roll-out.

Maggie focuses on CRM, and it’s important to note that this needs to be set up right to take advantage of our prospecting and mapping tools. It’s your data, and it needs to be organized so you’ll take action on it! Here’s how to get set up for success.

The majority of brokers we know are professional, hard-working, and great with people—which is essentially a prerequisite for being successful in this industry, right?

Still, we were fascinated toread complaints about brokers and other commercial real estate professionals who were apparently coming across as rude, entitled, and condescending—and turning off potential clients and investors in the process.

Technology is evolving faster than ever before. From Bitcoin’s explosive growth to drones buzzing in parks and construction sites across the country, 2017 was a year of rapid tech growth.

There’s reason to believe that growth will accelerate this year, and given how technology is impacting every segment of the industry, CRE professionals would do well to stay on top of unfolding trends—even those not directly related to the industry. From the fate of blockchain to increased job automation, here are six tech predictions for 2018.

“Most agents nationally are generalists, but they make significantly less money than specialists per NAR research," says Greg Schenk of The Schenk Company. “You need to pick an area that you are passionate about and be the expert in that area to excel."

Schenk’s comment caught our eye, so we asked ourselves, “Is it really better to be a specialist?” If specialists earn more money, should we be encouraging all brokers—or at least our readers—to build depth in one specific area? And how does it vary by market?

Your workflow as a broker has about a million moving parts. From prospecting and building relationships to marketing and deal management, you have your work cut out for you.

It can be overwhelming to evaluate and optimize for each part of the process, and it’s wise to try and keep things as simple as possible. There are many products out there that can cover a lot of bases at once. And those core products often can and should integrate with easy-to-use apps and other tools to keep your workflow centralized.

That’s why we’re focused on simplicity in our product. We want to provide you with tools you love to use, and to that end, we want you to keep using the tools you already know and love.

Strong work relationships support successful careers. That’s especially true in the world of commercial real estate; from closing deals to finding better prospects, this industry is all about relationships.

As if that isn’t reason enough to cultivate professional relationships, analysis of Gallup interviews suggests people with a close friend at work are much more likely to be engaged and productive.

From building friendships on your team to boosting your network, use these tips to cultivate stronger relationships at work.

You may not think you’re guilty of this, but according to Rod Santomassimo atThe Massimo Group, it’s the most common prospecting gaffe he sees brokers make, no matter how experienced or successful they are.

For many professionals, the lines between our work and non-work lives are growing increasingly blurry. And many even tend to like it that way.

With the advent of smartphones and wireless internet, most knowledge workers no longer need to be at work to get work done. According to Gallup,43% of workers spend at least some of their time working remote, up from 39% in 2012. As a result, the role of the office is evolving.

Rather than consider our offices as a place to punch in and out before heading home to relax, we now seek out offices that function as community hubs that allow its members to be productive both in work and in life.

This shift will have obvious effects on the commercial office landscape--but less obvious ones on the retail and hospitality spaces. Here’s what you can expect.

Prospecting for new business is the lifeblood of a commercial real estate broker. To be successful, you need to build strong relationships and continually grow your network.

That’s why we pulled together a tip sheet to help you up your prospecting game at every stage of the process. These tips are short and sweet but are meant to inspire you to think of your workflow anew, from the technology you use to conversion metrics to relationship-building techniques and beyond.

Consider these two aphorisms: location, location, location and a picture is worth a thousand words. In the world of commercial real estate, the latter communicates the former. It accomplishes this through the time-tested technology―a map.Fortunately for you, Apto Prospect & Nurture now features an all new mapping tool to help you get more out of your property, listing, and comp data.

Any person in the business of selling needs a way to track and manage relationships.

CRM, or customer relationship management, is what begins to transform selling from an art to a science by distilling it into a set of calculated and repeatable actions, all set to reach the ultimate goal of making more money.

Some teams will opt for the do-it-yourself approach and manage relationships through basic Excel spreadsheets, while others will take a more progressive approach and lean on a cloud-based CRM tool such as the one we provide here at Apto.

But have you ever wondered what more your technology can do, but aren’t quite sure what that more might be or where to find it? Here are some considerations for what technology can do for you.

After buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, it seems like everyone has the same question: who will Amazon buy next? Predictions range from the sensible to the outlandish, yet of all possible contenders, Target is getting the most attention.

Well-known technology analyst Gene Munster recently predicted Amazon will buy Target sometime this year. With a current market cap approaching $42 billion, that’s a bold prediction, but it’s not unbelievable. Yet the deal is certainly not a sure thing and there are good reasons to think it won’t become a reality. While nobody can say for sure if Amazon will move to acquire Target, any potential deal would have an enormous impact on retail real estate and the technology it depends on.

There’s no shortage of commercial real estate content out there (including our own), but the specifics of using CRE tech are a little harder to come by.

For example, we talk about prospectingallthetime. Target high-value opportunities, we say (and we’re not the only ones). But what are the high value opportunities, and how do you find them? Why is that the best strategy? How can technology help?

Well, the Best Practices Library has the answer. We’ve recently made some updates that reflect our latest products, so we hope you’ll check it out! And we’ll be adding more articles in the weeks to come.

Are you back in the swing of things at work? Keeping your New Year's resolutions? In case you need a little more inspiration, here are four guides that cover CRM, prospecting, and marketing for commercial real estate.

In the world of commercial real estate, professionals have long turned to spreadsheets for their data needs. While spreadsheets are great for storing lots of data, they are not so great when it comes to identifying strategic trends. They’re also about as interactive as a brick wall.

Modern data integration and visualization systems are filling the void, giving CRE professionals the ability to make sense of their data quickly while using it in new and exciting ways. From unlocking your data’s true potential to boosting prospecting efforts, here are four reasons you should go beyond spreadsheets and use data visualization tools to amplify your business.

Those interested in the cannabis industry will have a lot to talk about in the coming months.

With the legalization of recreational cannabis sales in California, which went into effect on January 1, 2018, there are a total of nine states where the average citizen can purchase marijuana products, so long as they are over the age of 21. Medical marijuana is legal in a total of 29 states.

With this spike in demand for recreational marijuana came a dramatic increase in demand for cannabis-suitable real estate. While the laws and regulations surrounding this specialty are tricky, and can even foreseeably get brokers and other agents involved in transactions into legal trouble, professionals who take a chance on pot stand a lot to gain.

We looked back at a year of blog posts to bring you the 10 New Year’s resolutions every broker should consider making—and keeping—in 2018. Feeling inspired? Pick one of these ideas and make it happen. Remember, success isn’t just about reading something and bookmarking it for later: it’s about turning what you learn into action.

Jules Hochman of Denver-based Pinnacle Real Estate Group leads a six-person team within his firm. With four brokers, a transaction manager, and an executive assistant, they’ve found a niche in multifamily and retail.

He’s been in the business for a couple decades, and the biggest change he’s seen is the rise of technology. Now, he acknowledges that “as a broker, you always want to do more business, and without technology you can’t.”

Fortunately, he’s found a tool that gives his team more time and lets them get more transactions done.

Ready for 2018? Commercial real estate brokers know that near-constant networking is the key to success. You never know who you’ll meet or what new ideas you’ll be exposed to. So before you head into the New Year, brush up on a few ways to set your networking strategy.

We hope that you had a good year and that you're ready for everything 2018 has in store. As we get ready to close out the year, we wanted to share our most popular blogs (just in case you missed them).

Those who work in sales—especially commercial real estate—are always on the go. But taking time to slow down and reflect on what’s going well, and more importantly, what isn’t going well, is an essential part of running a high-functioning sales operation.

Whether you’re a manager trying to get a better hold on your team’s activities or an associate aiming to manage up and gain accountability so you can ultimately close more deals, it’s important to structure these smaller meetings intentionally. Otherwise, you risk wasting 30 minutes to an hour on aimless conversation that could surely be better used elsewhere.

We’ve spoken with a number of CRE professionals and pulled out the essential steps to running a productive sales pipeline review.

Unfortunately, it’s really not true. Money can be created, traded, borrowed, and collateralized. Time can only be used, killed, or lost.

As a commercial real estate broker, though, more time means more deals, which means more money. That much is true. Adopting technology can seem like an unwanted expense and a downright hassle at first, but a little bit of time saving can add up to a lot. And many CRE-specific tools are becoming easier and more intuitive to use.

At this point, you really can’t afford to not take advantage of automation and technology for your business. Let’s take a look at just how much time it can save you.

If CRE brokerage has been smooth sailing for you, count yourself as one of the lucky (and rare) ones! Most brokers have to work hard to overcome personal challenges and tough lessons learned along the way, but those who do come out all the better for it.

We asked a couple of brokers about the biggest challenges they’ve faced in their careers, and how they have dealt with them. We think you’ll enjoy their stories: there’s wisdom in each that all of us can learn from!

Social media is one of the best ways to reach new audiences, grow your network and generate prospects. Yet many commercial real estate professionals struggle to achieve its full potential.

It isn’t enough to post to Facebook or Twitter every few days; an effective social media campaign is all about knowing your target audience and engaging with your community on a daily basis. From getting started on LinkedIn to reaching millennials through Instagram, follow these tips to grow your social media presence and drive your business.

Baum Realty is a retail brokerage firm based in Chicago, IL. For years they’d been struggling with a siloed tech stack and data spread across a variety of sources and tools.

And then they switched to Apto.

As Mike Demetriou, President of Baum Realty Group put it: "It's unusual that you can find a piece of technology you can actually ascribe to getting a deal done, and therefore monetize the investment you made in technology."

After months of building a relationship with a new contact, you sign an exclusive rep agreement. You’ve done your homework on the property, capturing details and photos diligently in Apto. Now you can convert that property to a listing and hit the ground running. You need to get the word out to your network, comb through your database for potential tenants, send emails and make calls.

Well, now instead of entering the same property details time and time again across different listing sites, you can dramatically broaden your reach with the click of a button.

Looking to hire new brokers to your team? There are plenty of salespeople out there, but it can be difficult to find the right fit for commercial real estate, a competitive industry with long deal timelines and complex transactions.

To find a team member with the requisite skills and mindset, consider recruiting former professional athletes. A broker whose personality and skills were honed through the brutal testing ground of professional athletics can be an ideal partner.

Early next year Amazon will choose one North American city to house its second headquarters. The company welcomed city proposals to explain why Amazon should build its $5 billion campus and create some 50,000 jobs within their borders, and no less than 238 cities responded.

While some bidders are trying to attract the king of e-commerce with outlandish proposals involving name changes and oversized cacti, most are hoping to woo the company with land and tax incentives. These three cities are offering Amazon more than the rest.

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a pointless meeting wondering, “Couldn’t this have been covered in an email?”, you’re not alone.

In a survey of 182 senior managers in a range of industries, theHarvard Business Review found that 65% of respondents said meetings keep them from completing their own work and 71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient.

And bad meetings aren’t just frustrating; they’re bad for business. More than $37 billion per year is spent on unproductive meetings according to an eye-openinginfographic from Fuze. Each minute spent in a meeting is one you’re not working deals and building relationships.

Whether it’s a mentor, an older colleague, or even a competitor, chances are you’ve looked at a person you admire and said, “Wow, how do they do that? I’d love to get to their level.”

We asked a few brokers about those people in the industry who’ve stood out most to them—and why—and here’s what we found out. Here’s three cheers for the people who inspire us to do better and be better on a daily basis.

During the holiday season, business sometimes slows down as our focus turns to parties, shopping and spending time with family and friends. So what can we do to make sure we end the year on a positive note with a strong final quarter?

Today’s apps make saving time easier than ever before. That is, as long as combing through list after list of them doesn’t sap your whole day.

There are tons of apps out there, and while many are helpful for CRE professionals, it can be daunting trying to find the ones that really make a difference. That’s why we did the dirty work for you. From simplifying leases to staying up to date on industry trends, these 9 apps give you the tools to stop wasting time and make the most of your day.

The more people flock to your business…the more people will flock to your business. P.T. Barnum’s words are something every broker should take to heart, because positive reviews and client case studies have a magical way of bringing you more clients. This is especially true in commercial real estate, where relationships are king. You need to share your success through every channel available.

According toBrightLocal’s most recent survey, 85% of people trust online reviews as much as word of mouth recommendations. Reviews are also one of the best ways to gain a potential client’s trust: 73% of people will trust a business more after reading its positive reviews, and people will read an average of 7 reviews before deciding to trust it.

With that in mind, here are some ideas for showing off your client testimonials and success stories.

To help people understand the industry’s evolving dynamics, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC recently published their seminal Emerging Trends in Real Estate report.

From the enormous disruption in the retail sector to industrial’s seemingly unstoppable growth, 2018 promises to be a year of change and opportunity. While ULI’s report covers many developing trends, we decided to hone in on four of the most significant.

The other day, a few members of our product and sales teams got to talking about stories they’d heard recently from brokers. There were plenty of tales about legacy CRM systems and other outdated technology, but there were even more stories about offices stacked with paper and desktops crowded with Excel documents.

But to me, this story takes the cake. It’s about the real cost of relying on those antiquated systems to prospect and build relationships. (Names and locations intentionally left out!)

You don’t know why, but the days just seem to drag on. You’re not as excited about this job like you once were, and you’re wondering if this is the beginning of the end for you as a broker. Sound familiar?

Whether it’s a genuine career slump or just a brief dip in motivation, what you’re feeling is normal—and it happens to the best of brokers. But you don’t have to stay stuck. Today, we’re bringing you four fresh ideas for summoning up that extra get-up-and-go when your tank’s nearly empty.

Networking is one of the best ways to find a job, discover new prospects, and grow your career. When done incorrectly, it’s one of the easiest ways to waste your time.

Everyone knows networking is important, but despite their best efforts, many people consistently go about it the wrong way. Much more than simply the means to land a new job or grow a client list, networking is the lifelong practice of building mutually beneficial relationships.

From focusing too much on collecting business cards to failing to help others, avoid these common networking mistakes and your hard work will finally start paying off.

While building something one place and assembling it in another is hardly a new idea, there are many misconceptions surrounding modular construction and its role in the industry. But that’s beginning to change, and whether it’s a new Marriott hotel or a multifamily building in Brooklyn, modular construction is here to stay.

You have a broad network of contacts in the commercial real estate world, and so do we. We love hearing stories from brokers about their lives and careers—the best advice they ever received, the twists and turns that led them to unexpected places, and more.

We thought you might like to hear about your peers' experiences as well. Download and peruse this free ebook for advice from top performers, tips for those just starting out, in-depth interviews, and more.

A broker I know recently told me that, since adopting a new technology, “cold calls” have become “familiar calls.” That’s because as he churns through his daily prospecting calls, he has details about the contact on the screen in front of him so he can make a quick connection.

“I recently called a landlord with a big business park out by the airport. In Prospect & Nurture, I saw right away on the map that there was construction for a distribution center nearby. I was able to reference that right away when we got on the call and ask how it was affecting his tenants. Just knowing what’s going on in the area makes it so much easier to make a connection with a stranger.”

Whether part of your daily commute or simply where you catch your ride to the airport, we’ve all spent time in train stations. Unfortunately, all too often that time is spent in an old dreary building that we’re grateful to get away from.

But not all train stations are like that, and from London to New York City, these 10 train stations are as much works of art as they are centers of transportation. They’re part of the CRE landscape of the city, and any architectural wonders in your city are worth your attention.

Do you remember shopping with your parents when you were a kid and enjoying an ice cream as payoff? Even though retail has changed dramatically in recent years, that combination of experiences in your memory is what is helping keep brick and mortar retail stores relevant today.

Despite the rise in online retail, there are still reasons why some customers prefer in-store experiences. Some want to physically touch the product, browse more options, or just the enjoy shopping experience itself.

It’s a competitive market, but there are ways traditional retail stores can keep customers coming through their doors.

Where do you find great leads? Recently, we asked brokers about their go-to strategies for drumming up new business. Some confirmed that tried-and-true methods—like picking up the phone—worked best for them. And some surprised us with fresh ideas we hadn’t considered before.

We’re well into the final quarter of the year, and if you don’t anticipate a strong finish, there’s still time to turn things around.

Whether things are going swimmingly and you’re on track to meet your goals, or you’re finding yourself falling short, a little inspiration never hurt! We’ve curated a list of quotes aimed at motivating CRE professionals to do their best.

Emotional intelligence is the hidden super power that separates top performers from the rest.

Emotionally intelligent people are far more likely to be successful, not because of luck, but because they’ve mastered the 11 psychological skills we cover in this ebook. People are far more likely to do business with those they like, even if a better deal exists elsewhere.

As a commercial real estate professional, your ability to detect emotional intelligence in others is just as important as your ability to operate with emotional intelligence yourself. You might feel like a one-man show at times, but the people with whom you surround yourself will either help or hurt your chances of success. So when interviewing job candidates, you need to sharpen your emotional intelligence detection skills.

Here are some revealing interview questions to keep in your back pocket:

If ghosts and goblins don’t get your heart thumping, these CRE stories will. We reached out to brokers across the country to ask about the one time in their careers that things went horribly wrong. And they responded with truly terrifying tales sure to give you chills…or at least a good chuckle!

Read on for the best of our CRE horror stories, and leave your own in the comments!

Four and a half years ago Anthony Grosso co-founded First National Realty Partners in suburban New Jersey. Today, his private equity firm has a team of over 20 professionals and manages a substantial portfolio of retail, office, industrial and multifamily assets.

From building a private equity firm from scratch to finding the perfect deal, Anthony shared his experiences on what it takes to succeed in the world of CRE.

Not all office space is created equal. Employees are more productive when they are happy and healthy, and that’s why companies are always trying to make their offices better.

While stellar office design helps employees do their best work, some businesses are moving one step beyond design and focusing on technology. From controlling indoor air pollution to optimizing temperature and lighting, modern offices are using spaceship-esque technology to increase worker productivity.

E-commerce may be thriving online, but people forget that its success depends entirely on physical space: the distribution centers that keep things stocked and ready for delivery.

With online shopping on the rise, the demand for last-mile distribution space is growing—and it's ushering in a boom for the commercial real estate industry. For example, in the Bay Area, consumer demand for near-instant delivery has led to a10% price increase for warehouse space. That’s in just two years.

So what does the future hold for brokers who hone in on this major opportunity? Here’s what you need to know.

The marketing landscape for every industry has evolved dramatically in the past decade. Traditional methods of marketing such as commercials, newspaper ads, even banner and display advertising are all but ignored by today’s consumer.

The next phase in marketing is content.

Why? Because content marketing involves the creation and promotion of valuable information that consumers actually want.

You spend a lot of time actively chasing new business. But how much time do you spend getting to know the people in your community and actively helping them out?

Whether you’re coaching a little league team or organizing a donation drive, community involvement is a great way to make a positive contribution and meet new people. It also has the power to boost your business as people get to know you, trust you, and spread the word about what you do.

Today, we’re sharing seven simple ways to show your community a little love (and maybe get a little love back in return):

Like many kids growing up in a bucolic yet blue-collar part of the Midwest, I had to exercise my imagination when it came to more glamorous landscapes that featured mountains, oceans, or skyscrapers. Thankfully I had Chicago and its architecture to inspire me and ground my thinking about place.

That imagination turned to vision as I devoured movies and TV shows about places like Beverly Hills, Miami, and New York. The more I saw on the screen, the more I felt I understood, the more I felt some version of those cities’ realities.

We all know them. The ex-athlete turned salesperson, reveling in the thrill of the deal. The former accountant who tracks every expense and detail, making sure nothing falls through the cracks. The career broker who still writes everything on paper.

Now let’s take a look at these common characters to see how they’re using (or not using) technology to run their business, and how if affects their professional (and personal) lives.

Strong networks lay the foundation for successful businesses and prosperous careers. In the CRE world, networking is critical for finding new prospects and growing your client list. But many people dread the thought of introducing themselves to a group of strangers, or worse yet, speaking publicly.

Mastering the art of networking is a lifelong endeavor, and contrary to what some believe, it’s more than just aggressively handing out business cards. From starting right to making it a daily habit, following these tips will put you on the road to networking success.

It’s been a hurricane season unlike any other, with four major storms hitting U.S. shores within weeks of each other: first Harvey, then Irma, Maria, and Nate. In the calm between the lashing wind and rain, we’re stopping to ask: What exactly does this all mean for CRE?

Today, we’re taking stock of the impact these storms have had on commercial real estate in three affected regions. Here’s where things stand:

Studies have found that people decide whether or not they like you within seven seconds. That doesn’t give you much time to make a good first impression, especially when you’re in an interview situation.

Let’s face it, all you’re thinking about in that first seven seconds of a job interview is: Where do I sit? Should I have taken that glass of water? And what was the name of my interviewer again?

Interviews are high-stress situations. Even commercial real estate brokers or other salespeople, who are evaluated on their people skills, can stumble in their answers. Fortunately, like writing, delivering a killer sales pitch, or closing a deal—interviewing is a skill that can be learned with guidance and practice.

We polled seasoned HR representatives to determine what things you should definitely NOT say or do in an interview.

From the open floor plan to coworking spaces, offices are finally getting a much needed makeover. But when it comes to stellar office design, it isn't as simple as throwing in a slide or ping pong table and offering awesome perks (although that certainly doesn't hurt).

Effectively designed offices foster employee creativity, cut down on wasted time, and make businesses better. But as important as it is to update outdated offices and design new ones well, it’s equally important to avoid common office design pitfalls. From the usual culprits like poor lighting to less obvious problems like failing to differentiate space, avoiding these design mistakes will help ensure your office is a major asset to your business.

We recently explored why having more women in CRE can be a very good thing for business, and how brokerages can make themselves more attractive to women. Today, we’re taking a look at it from the opposite angle, with thoughts on how aspiring female brokers can position themselves to be more successful in the field.

For today’s insights, we turned toJoanna Chango-James, Phd., a psychologist and leadership consultant who helps women maximize their potential in the workplace. Here’s what she had to say.

Last month, we got the big news: Amazon’sscoping out a second headquarters that could bring $5 billion in new construction and up to 50,000 new jobs.

Since then, cities have been fervently vying for the chance to land “Amazon HQ2,” submitting their bids ahead of the October 19th deadline set by the company.

So what’s in it for cities willing to offer up tax incentives, relocation subsidies, donated land, and more—likerenaming themselves Amazon? If the past is any indicator, Amazon HQ2 could be a success story similar to Seattle’s, where the company has generated an estimated $38 billion in indirect investment between 2010 and 2016.

Could your city be the lucky one to land HQ2? Let’s take a look at who’s got the best shot, who’s in the running, and who may ultimately win.

The value of your services as a commercial real estate broker lies largely in your relationships—and by extension, the database that keeps them organized. To make meaningful connections with the important people in your market, you have to know who they are, their portfolios, their networks, their past behavior, etc. You have to be an expert on your market and all the properties and people in play.

There is so much information to track, and while there are a lot of data services out there to help you get started, they’re all imperfect. You have to gather and maintain your own data if you want to succeed.

The good news is if you’re diligent about building your database and keeping it up to date, it can pay huge dividends.

It can be overwhelming to evaluate and optimize for each process, and we do urge you to keep it as simple as possible. There are many products out there that can cover a lot of bases at once. And those core products often can and should integrate with easy-to-use apps and other tools to keep your workflow centralized.

Apto, for example, gives you access to thousands of business apps from the Salesforce AppExchange. Here are 18 of the most popular broken down by category.

U.S. office markets stayed strong over the course of Q2. That’s according to Colliers International’s Top Office Metros Snapshot, which said most major markets are in position to keep the momentum going into next quarter.

While six top markets experienced negligible changes in rent, rents advanced in four and absorption rose in six. Despite solid results during the quarter, Colliers said the combination of tenant downsizing and new supply is likely to increase vacancy rates down the road. From Manhattan to Seattle, here’s how the nation’s top office markets finished Q2.

It’s a tough world out there, especially for new CRE brokers. You’ve got to build up a business from scratch, hear “no” about a thousand times before you ever get a “yes,” and live without a payday for what feels like forever. It’s why so many brokers don’t make it past that first crucial year.

But the brokers who do are a special bunch: they’ve been there, done that, and have the battle-tested insights to prove it. Recently, we turned to them for the #1 survival tip they’d give to newbie brokers. We asked what they wished someone had told them when they were starting out, and here’s what they had to say:

These days, being tech savvy isn’t just convenient—it’s practically required. Cloud technology has revolutionized the way we do business, especially in commercial real estate. No longer are brokers expected to travel with paper files in the trunk of their car. Now they have access to all of their documents, contacts, and spreadsheet information on their phone.

The good news is that technology is becoming more and more intuitive and easy to adopt. Here are 5 tools that all CRE professionals need to always have on hand.

It’s no secret: salespeople, and real estate sales people in particular, often get a bad rap.

For many, it’s deserved. We’ve all been harassed by a persistent telemarketer or an overly-eager junior sales rep who just didn’t know when to quit. Of course, for every obnoxious account executive, there’s an experienced professional who has dedicated their life to learning good salesmanship.

But even the most skilled seller can revert to bad habits from time to time.

Maybe you rely a little too heavily on email templates or maybe you’ve gotten in the habit of interrupting clients when speaking, but it’s never a bad idea to take a quick inventory of your habits and cull out the bad ones.

As a commercial real estate professional, the majority of your learning likely happens on the job through direct experience, or with colleagues and mentors.

But if you’re looking to continue your education and become a better broker, you might want to consider joining a professional organization or even taking a course or two. If you’re up for a challenge, then you can seek out a certification such as CCIM or SIOR.

To help you make the decision, we’ll take you through the pros and cons of professional associations and certifications—then help you evaluate some of your options.

While you may be able to name a few who’ve done remarkably well—women likeHeidi Burkhart, for example—they’re getting harder and harder to find. In the past decade, there’s been a 10% decline in the number of female CRE brokers, according to a study by the CREW Network (PDF).

That loss is troubling, especially given how few women are in the industry to start with. According to NAIOP’s 2013 Commercial Real Estate Diversity Report (PDF), there are:

14.1% women at the executive level*

21.5% women at the mid level

29.5% women at the professional level

79.2% women at the clerical level

That’s a shame: these numbers don’t just reflect a loss of female talent at the higher levels, they reflect a massive loss of potential.

As a commercial real estate broker, your business depends on strong relationships. Whether it’s with a prospect, client, architect, lender, developer, or admin, building a strong rapport with that person is essential to a successful business (and a happy life, for that matter).

And it’s easy enough to befriend people you get along with, but what about those who challenge or annoy you? Creating rapport with those people is arguably even more important.

Rather than succumb to your frustration, you can use relationship-building techniques to make a friend out of just about anyone. Whether you’re trying to win over a new client, strengthen an existing relationship or turn an adversary into a friend, the techniques in this ebook will help you build strong, lasting bonds.

The U.S. economy experienced soaring equity markets, growing consumer and business confidence and steady job creation over the last six months. While that’s certainly nothing to complain about, experts are increasingly wondering if recent economic success combined with shifting dynamics in the labor market puts office markets at risk of overbuilding.

Cushman & Wakefield published office forecasts for more than 100 global cities to judge the risk of overbuilding. From saturated top markets to booming secondary markets, developers, and investors alike face risk and opportunity over the next two years.

WeWork began attracting large companies to its desks in May of last year. Now, those companies represent its fastest-growing business.

Large companies increasingly value maintaining a number of coworking desks for added flexibility, networking opportunities, and, if for nothing else, to keep an eye on startups. From WeWork’s changing customer base to an increased focus on amenities, evolving trends in the marketplace position the office sector for another wave of disruption.

Let’s say you’ve won an exclusive rep agreement and you’ve started marketing the listing. Everything is in motion, but for some reason, you’re not getting a great response. If that’s the case, there may be some glitches in your marketing. For example:

Since the dawn of the coworking boom, many have predicted the end of the traditional office as we know it.

But while cubicles and cramped offices with dingy overhead lighting may be on their way out, the office itself is alive and well, thanks in part to the creativity of top office design firms.

Companies have started to recognize that employees do their best work in spaces built for creativity, and design firms like HDG, Rapt Studio, and Nelson have stepped up to meet this demand.

It’s not just trendy startups jumping on the office space design trend—from Teach For America to Mattress Firm, organizations of all different types are sprucing up their digs to nurture and compete for the best talent.

When WeWork first entered the co-working space in 2010, established real estate giants had little to worry about from their scrappy, young competitor.

That was seven years ago. Today, WeWork isvalued at $20 billion and winning over major corporate clients like IBM, Spotify, and Salesforce. They're disrupting the office sector and giving titans like JLL and CBRE a good reason to be nervous.

Could their next big venture, co-living, disrupt the multifamily sector?

We’re over halfway through 2017, and as we head into Labor Day weekend, summer is drawing to a close. It’s time to take a pause, evaluate how things have gone so far, and plan for a successful close to the calendar year.

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day pace of work and life. And often, when forced to choose between an easy task and one that requires deep, critical thinking, we choose the one that we can cross off our to-do the fastest. This can lead your priorities askew and cause you to stray from your goals.

That’s why it’s important to carve out time in your schedule for the tough stuff—the deep thinking that guides those day-to-day activities in the right direction. Here are some tips for ensuring strategic thinking doesn’t fall by the wayside so you can crush the remainder of 2017.

Referrals are an amazing way to pick up new business, but you don’t have to sit around waiting for them to happen! Asking for referrals should be an automatic part of your process, just like following up with contacts or prospecting for new leads.

Consider this: People referred to you by your loyal clients are 37% more likely to stick around, according toDeloitte. But without those referrals, you’re missing out on valuable opportunities, since word of mouth can influence20-50% of all purchasing decisions.

It’s clear that referrals are a valuable source of new business. Here’s how you can get even more of them:

There are plenty of blog posts out there with tips to cold call, network, persuade, etc. In other words, there are plenty of prospecting tactics, but sometimes it’s helpful to remember that at the end of the day, it’s just two people making a connection in occasionally random ways.

We recently solicited your most surprising prospecting stories, and are pleased to share four experiences.

Here are the craziest, funniest, most random broker prospecting stories we could find, filled with crazy characters, mysterious LLCs, celebrities, and an introduction in Antarctica.

Senior housing market valuations peaked at the end of 2015, but since descending from that high investors have struggled to agree on the sector’s future. While Millennials overtook Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation last year, Baby Boomers remain an enormous generation and number some 76 million individuals. Many of those people are approaching ages where they are more likely to use senior housing services, and that demographic shift promises to accelerate demand in the senior housing industry.

But the story isn’t that simple. The sector is experiencing headwinds as critical markets become overbuilt, yet experts don’t agree on the severity or scope of the problem. While short-term and long-term prospects in the sector differ, investors who understand the evolving dynamics at play are well positioned to take advantage of market opportunities.

We’ve all been told to have our elevator pitch ready. After all, you never know when you’ll bump into the CEO of the company, or a major investor who just happens to be looking for new representation.

But how many of us really have something to say, besides the dry facts of what we do? We hate to say it, but no one really cares that you’re a tenant rep broker servicing the greater Seattle area…

That’s because there are many other commercial real estate professionals just like you, and simply saying what it is you do, rather than who you are and why you do what you do, doesn’t set you apart and it certainly doesn’t get you remembered.

A few years ago, my Honda Civic finally kicked the bucket and it was time yet again to go new car shopping. Some dread the task, but I was excited to put my years of reading Motortrend to work. I headed into the dealership armed with facts and figures, as well as the various opinions of automotive journalists in case the conversation got serious.

A sales guy started chatting me up right away so I threw him some softball question. Iwas looking to connect―all he had to do was react to what I said and display some semblance of knowledge. He didn’t do either of those things. He just sort of nodded and then started talking about the car in question and various “facts” that I was able to sniff out as falsehoods immediately.

I was out of there. He was out of a sale.

I hope you haven’t done this, or I hope you’ve only done it once. Once is all it takes to learn how important it is to know your product and your customer, and to have all that information on hand when it’s time to connect. Being able to have a smart, meaningful conversation is the key to being an effective salesperson.

While many of us may have thought more complex roles and industries would remain sheltered from increasingly advanced technology, a recent report by Remit Consulting said 88% of the core tasks performed by real estate service firms are ripe for technological takeover.

In business, first impressions are often made not with a handshake, but with an email. And the message we send with the quality and clarity of our writing often speaks louder than the content itself.

When was the last time you thought about your skill as a writer? If you’re answer is, "Not since high school English class,” then this post is for you. From crafting a tweet to sending a follow-up email, you will constantly be judged on your writing.

Keep reading for some of our favorite tips for better business writing:

How will you prepare for the upcoming fall conference season? Even if you love the spontaneity of chatting up a new contact in the lunch line or comparing notes with the person next to you at the panel discussion, planning ahead can pay off in far more high-quality opportunities.

Here’s the secret: at every conference, there’s always the official agenda and the “invisible agenda,” the one you won’t find on the website. It encompasses all the informal handshakes and conversations between sessions, as well as pre-arranged meetings and even a few “spontaneous” get-togethers. You could go through an entire conference and never notice this invisible agenda unfolding all around you. Or you could be the one who sets it.

But this ebook isn’t a beginner’s guide. This is for brokers who are past the struggles of the early years, where organization is still a work in progress. This is for brokers who are ready to build a scalable process that ensures their pipeline stays full and the paychecks keep coming. We assume that you have centralized technology and a CRM, not just a collection of Excel spreadsheets. (If not, start with A Practical Guide to CRM for Commercial Real Estate).

And we’re going to be honest—to become an expert, you need to put in the work. There are ways to be more efficient, but there are no true shortcuts. To make more money, you need to invest in technology and take the time to implement better processes. But it’s worth it.

Commercial real estate is an evolving industry, and to stay ahead of the competition, it’s essential to stay on top of developing trends and market dynamics. While taking a class is a great way to learn new material, classes are expensive and most people in the industry are time-strapped enough as it is. Whether you’re on your commute or at the gym, following the right podcasts is one of the most convenient ways to keep up.

It’s no secret that brick and mortar retailers are switching things up in an attempt to stay relevant. Companies of all shapes and sizes are feeling the heat from Amazon and the general shift in consumer preferences.

To be more specific, consumers are becoming are less and less interested in things. They want experiences, even in their shopping routines. Hence the idea of “experiential retail,” an attempt to create a well-rounded or interesting experience for shoppers outside of just the purchase of goods. If done right, these experiences keep people in the store longer and are also highly shareable on social media.

As a commercial real estate professional, your workday rarely ends at 5pm. Somedays, the real work may not even begin until then, or you might just be working round-the-clock—ready to take a client call at any moment.

That’s why the way you choose to spend your time matters. You don’t get paid to sit behind a desk, you get paid when you produce. So how do you ensure your time is being spent working on deals and not on useless paperwork?

But not following up or keeping in touch is like ordering a mouthwatering burger and then walking away from the table when it arrives. You can smell how good it’s going to taste, but you never actually take that first bite. The same goes for prospecting: you can almost smell how good that deal’s going to be if it materializes. But if you don’t follow up, you are literally leaving an opportunity on the table!

From maximizing time to using the latest technology to unlock business opportunities, the most successful commercial real estate professionals are always hungry to learn. Reading the right books is one of the best and easiest ways to learn, and it’s far cheaper than taking classes.

There are thousands of real estate books out there, so to help thin the herd, we put together a list of true essentials. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or are entering the commercial real estate world for the first time, reading these books will make you better.

Prospecting is to a broker what free throws are to an NBA star, or what the gas pedal is to a race car driver. Simply put: it’s the foundation of your success.

And yet, theMassimo Blog revealed that over 80% of respondents in a national survey prospected only sporadically or when they could. What’s more, 7% of these respondents suggested that they do not prospect at all.

We recently interviewed Heidi Burkhart, president and owner of New York brokerage firm Dane Real Estate, on how she’s succeeded in commercial real estate, a historically male-dominated industry. And with recent news about gender discrimination and harassment running rampant in Silicon Valley and beyond, this got me thinking about similar challenges we face in the technology industry with gender diversity (and diversity in general).

Hopefully you read this blog because you trust us to provide important industry news, best practices, and other tips and trends. But we’d remiss if we didn’t occasionally tell you what’s new at Apto. And there’s been a lot this year! We’ve been hard at work in our effort to bring you more features and products that will make your life as a commercial real estate broker much easier.

For better or worse, the commercial real estate industry is fundamentally tied to the strength of the U.S. economy. In June the labor market created more jobs than expected, and while wage growth lagged, those new jobs will drive demand across the industry.

All sectors stand to benefit from increased job creation, but the office sector could gain the most — those new hires need somewhere to work, after all. At the same time, the multifamily market is heating up. That’s good news for owners but bad news for tenants, many of whom are struggling in tight markets plagued by a lack of affordable housing.

WeWork might be the poster child of the coworking movement, but it’s not the only option getting the attention of burgeoning entrepreneurs and established businesses alike.

Since WeWork opened the doors of its first NYC location in 2010, thousands of coworking operators have set out in search of similar success. Deskmag estimates there are 14,000 coworking spaces operating worldwide, with over 1.2 million people having worked in one of the spaces at some time.

Ever fantasize about being James Bond? Maybe Jason Bourne? Spies and brokers have more in common than you think. After all, spies spend their time navigating high-stakes environments, uncovering hidden opportunities, and building valuable relationships. Just like the brokers we know.

Today, we’re having a bit of fun and channeling our favorite Hollywood spies to reveal how you, a broker, can cultivate — ehem—“a very particular set of skills.” Whether you’re digging up intel on other people’s deals or going stealth for some undercover sleuthing, the following information is for your eyes only.

To understand what the industry’s change means for commercial real estate, it’s essential to examine both the Amazon deal and other shifting dynamics, including the growth of online shopping and expanding discount grocers. From Amazon to evolving customer habits, the grocery sector is experiencing unprecedented levels of disruption.

As a commercial real estate broker, you know how challenging it can be to market both yourself and your properties. There are more channels to communicate than ever before, yet it’s often harder to connect with the people most likely to do business with you.

Marketing has evolved over the years, and now the idea of “content marketing” is central to any strategy. Content marketing means “creating, publishing, and distributing content for your target audience -- usually online -- the goal of which is to attract new customers.” Essentially, information created by you is distributed to your target audience to provide value to them. It works by boosting your website in search engines and creating a brand of verifiable expertise.

Cold calling isn't fun. (Unless you’re one of those super intensely enthusiastic people who loves talking and doesn’t mind rejection.)

But prospecting for new clients—and keeping up with old ones—is vital to your business. It’s important to any business, but especially old-school sales industries like commercial real estate.

That’s why we wanted to make it much easier. New business outreach should be as simple as possible. Brokers need to be able to churn through high-value contacts quickly, and with the context they need in the moment to look smart and make a connection.

All this to say, we’re thrilled to introduce you to our latest product feature, Apto Prospect & Nurture.

Green buildings and initiatives sometimes have a hard time getting off the ground. Many property owners, especially those in the mid-capital commercial market, don’t expect to see the necessary ROI to invest in green building projects, given that the cost savings would typically be passed onto tenants in the form of lower bills.

Before digital spreadsheets, it would take a bookkeeperan entire day to calculate the impact of changing a single business variable. When VisiCalc appeared on the market in 1979, suddenly people could get those calculations instantly.

That was a huge leap, and it ushered in the spreadsheet era. You might remember using spreadsheets to keep track of clients, deals, and prospects. Fast forward to today: modern CRM systems are making it even easier to use that data, slashing time wasted and giving you a big bump in productivity.

Workplaces are undergoing a metamorphosis. Open offices have replaced cubicles at the world’s most successful companies and startups like WeWork have grown enormously, pioneering the coworking revolution. To better understand the trend, JLL’s new global study “Workplace Powered by Human Experience” surveyed workers globally to see how companies are reimagining workplaces to achieve strategic performance objectives.

Back in 2006, a Duke University researcher discovered that 40% of the things we do every day are pure habit. Whether it's brushing your teeth each morning or driving to work without really thinking about it, habits require very little mental energy and keep your days humming along smoothly.

But they’re also a powerful force at work, and how successful you are as a broker can come down to the invisible routines you follow. So are your habits working for or against you?

Our founder and CEO worked in commercial real estate brokerage for a decade before starting Apto. With background in brokerage and tech, he has a unique perspective to offer on the industry and where it’s headed.

A few weeks ago we brought you part one of our series on creating the perfect pitch deck. Once you've mastered those tips and tricks—which cover technology, organization, and strategy—you can delve into these extra steps that will truly set you apart from the competition.

A few months ago, we made it easier for our customers to take their brokerage platform with them anywhere. Apto Mobile was designed to optimize the tasks commercial real estate brokers need to complete when they’re away from their desks—giving them their to-do list, properties, and contact information.

Now, brokers can access listings on the go, as well.

How it works

Let's say you get a call when you're out in the field: one of your contacts has some questions about one of your many active listings. She wants to know the price per square foot, which you can't recall off the top of your head. Instead of telling her you'll get back to her, you look it up quickly in Apto Mobile and have the answer immediately. Then you can log the call right from the listing for easy reference and reporting later.

Great salespeople are great listeners—and this is especially true of brokers. The ones who can tune in to a client’s true needs (sometimes unspoken), bounce ideas around, and make smart suggestions are the ones who ultimately close more deals.

Like many founders, Andrew Benioff was simply building the solution he himself was looking for when he started the Philadelphia Real Estate Council. The real estate think tank focuses specifically on the Mid-Atlantic region and is comprised of an exclusive group of CEO's, principals, and CRE influencers who meet quarterly to collaborate and discuss the latest trends affecting commercial real estate.

Here, Andrew shares why he thinks this type of collaboration is so essential in the commercial real estate community, and how building a strong network set him up for success.

As a broker, you spend most of your time trying to get people to say “yes” to you—so what if you could get more “yes’s” with almost no additional effort? Today, we’re sharing four simple but powerful persuasion techniques that can have huge payoffs:

When trying to predict the future, humans often fall victim to two common cognitive biases: availability and anchoring. In other words, the factors they take into account skew heavily toward recent events and other people's opinions, respectively.

The way around it? Think of crazy future scenarios and then imagine how they might come to pass. (More about all that here.)

Whether consciously or not, we’ve all been shaped by the advice of others at some point. Maybe you listened to a coach who took a special interest in your upbringing, or maybe it’s the words of a parent you still find rattling around your head as you navigate difficult career or personal decisions.

When everyone else zigs, you should zag—or so goes the old saying. This month, we spoke to one Chicago-based broker, Noah Birk, who's proving just how successful that strategy can be.

Birk, the managing director at Kiser Group, has rapidly grown his book of business by focusing on an area of the city that many people overlook. He started in the CRE industry nearly seven years ago, as a college graduate, and found success by focusing on the disposition of apartment buildings on Chicago’s South Side. Today, he’s the area’s most active broker.

We asked Birk how he got to where he is today, and here’s what he had to say.

The retail sector is struggling as e-commerce continues its breakneck growth and consumer trends shift. Brick-and-mortar retailers are closing shops and going bankrupt at record levels, which leaves many landlords left managing empty space and losing money.

But instead of sitting idle, retail landlords are acting creatively to overcome market weakness. From finding ways to monetize unused space to rethinking their tenant mix, landlords are taking steps to adapt and profit in today’s uncertain environment.

When it comes to the systems we use regularly, we may see the signs that we need to upgrade or change our ways, but we often ignore them. Because let’s face it, it’s easier to keep doing what we’re doing.

This is especially true for CRM systems and the processes you use to run your brokerage.

Commercial real estate may still be dominated by men, but that never stopped some of the industry’s top women from finding success. This month, we spoke to one such leading lady: Ms. Heidi Burkhart, president and owner of New York brokerage firmDane Real Estate.

Burkhart started the company in 2008, at the age of 26. Today, she’s a leader in affordable housing brokerage as well as an emerging developer in the region.

We caught up with her to find out how she did it, from meeting the right mentors to hustling ’til it hurts. Here’s what we learned:

In an ideal world, you’d always have at least a month to brainstorm, produce and practice presenting your incredibly polished pitch deck. But let’s be honest, that pretty much never happens.

Maybe you’ve identified a last-minute opportunity to pitch some capital investors on a real estate project, or maybe you’re trying to land a new client before your competition beats you to the punch. Or, maybe you’ve just been procrastinating — we won’t judge!

The first half of the year is almost done and spring conference season is tapering off. Did you make it to any events? They’re a great opportunity to learn and network, not to mention pick your head up from the daily grind and get a shot of inspiration.

If you missed out on any events this spring, it’s not too late to turn it around the second half of the year. Sign up for these fall conferences now.

WeWork has been disrupting the office sector for the last seven years. Now, the company is moving to take on industry giants like JLL and CBRE through a new business that directly targets large, corporate clients. The company also launched its own real estate investment arm and has plans to drastically increase its real estate footprint this year.

You’ve got client info in an Excel doc, prospecting ideas in an email and market research in a company-owned database. Each one of those is a data source, whether or not you think of them in those terms. And if they were all connected in the same system, it would make your life a lot easier.

Taking a holistic view of the information at your disposal will make you and your entire brokerage team more organized, more efficient and better able to draw insights you might have missed otherwise. Those insights can give you a better view of the market, allowing you to provide more value to your clients and giving you an edge over the competition.

As a commercial real estate broker, you’ve mastered what is truly a complicated industry.

Your client? Not so much.

For entrepreneurs looking for space to house their business, the commercial real estate industry can be an incredibly daunting one to navigate. From confusing language and endless acronyms (NOI, BOV, NNN, etc) to aggressive landlords, you really can’t blame the average business owner for being a bit apprehensive.

Implementing a new commercial real estate (CRE) technology platform for your brokerage can seem like a daunting proposition. However, strategic planning and coordination with your CRE technology vendor can simplify the implementation and help you get the most out of your new platform right out of the gate.

Getting schooled on a topic you’ve spent years trying to master is no easy thing.

In my case, having written about commercial real estate for around 15 years, you would think I’d know all the ins and outs of the industry by now. I consider myself pretty conscious of commercial real estate assets and spaces, both inside and out.

The tasks and processes surrounding the close of a commercial real estate transaction can leave much to be desired for all the parties involved. I’ve seen the documents and forms many brokers use to manage invoices and commission payments, and it’s not always pretty.

There’s nothing quite as sweet as closing a big deal and cashing that commission check. In the world of CRE, each victory has a way of making you crave the next one. And for most brokers, an almost hardwired drive to succeed—coupled with those huge payouts—is often motivation enough.

As a commercial real estate professional, you take part in tough conversations all the time. From negotiating with landlords, to delivering not-so-great news to clients, to pitching new business — your communication style plays a huge part in your success or failure on a daily basis.

As a commercial real estate broker, you have to ensure you’re making the best use of your time at any given moment. Productivity and efficiency are the name of the game. And with today’s technology, there are plenty of tools that can help you get more done both in the office and on the go.

ICSC RECon, one of the biggest commercial real estate events of the year (if not THE biggest), is kicking off this Sunday, May 21 in Las Vegas. If you’re one of the thousands of CRE professionals heading there, you might want to check out a few articles to make sure you’re ready to take advantage of this unique event.

Commercial real estate attracts those that thrive in a high-risk, high-reward setting. While most would scoff at the idea of going salary free for upwards of a year to get their business off the ground, CRE brokers are ready to dive in head first, confident that the initial investment will pay off in the future as they build a client base, learn a market and eventually start closing deals.

But there’s a lot that goes into succeeding in commercial real estate, even after that first year or two is done. Yes, there are a prescribed set of activities that most brokers follow in order to start closing deals, but this is entirely different from establishing and following a strategy.

A successful brokerage is only as good as the people behind it—and a lot of that success depends on how smoothly those people can work together as a team.

So what's the secret to great teamwork? Of course, experts have been pondering this question since the beginning of time. And, predictably, there are countless opinions on how to make teamwork happen—just stroll through the business section of your local bookstore!

But we wanted to know what our already successful clients thought about the topic. What helped their teams do their best work, and how did they respond to common challenges? So we reached out to Scott Hensley, Partner atPiedmont Properties/CORFAC International, and Lee Wheeler, President ofWheeler Commercial, to see what they had to say.

Finding new contacts and building relationships is the lifeblood of a commercial real estate broker. You need to know exactly who your prospects are, and more importantly, what to say to pique their interest and gain their trust.

We've said it before and we'll say it again: to capture a prospect's attention and earn their respect, you need to be interesting, relevant and timely. You need to offer them information from the start to convince them that you know what you’re talking about.